Maria's Adventures: Disney Kingdom Take 2
by FourthWallBreaker
Summary: (Retry of the original) Maria wasn't always the but-kicking Reploid she is (see#3). See how she started being a World-Jumper - the story now revamped and remade! Starting once again with the strange cat-person known as Pete... (A KH/Atlantis/Treasure Planet crossover - no pairings)
1. Chapter 1

**OK, guys. Do any of you remember when I first put up the story that started off Maria's Adventures? Well, I've decided to turn back the clock and completely restart the series. For the most part, it will remain the same - at least, in the beginning - but there were a few things that I wanted to change about how the story went, especially now that I've had a little more experience with writing and I know where everything's going in the series.**

**And, if anyone's wondering, I'll replace the stories as I go along - meaning that the entire series won't disappear, just one at a time until I've caught up with myself.**

**So, here we go - Disney Kingdom, Take Two!**

**Chapter 1 - And so it begins**

Maria was sleeping soundly, not a care in the world. Below her in the lower bunk, Liz was sleeping, as well.

Neither of them noticed the large, round figure that squeezed through the door into their room. The creature looked around the small bedroom - which was made even smaller by the pair of wardrobes that sat at either side of the room. The bunk bed that sat next to one wall soon caught its attention, and it looked at the sleepers with interest, the creature's small, short ears going up.

The creature looked at the 16-year-old sleeping in the top bunk, her light brown hair seeming to be shining slightly because of the light coming out of the closet. Its eyes scanned the slight athletic build on the girl had.

Maria was so deep in her sleep that she didn't notice the cat-like face observing her.

The creature looked at the girl on the lower bunk, taking note of the darker hair and seemingly smaller build. The girl was certainly younger than the other, and appeared to be a 13 years old, and was most likely (and truly was) Maria's sister.

Suddenly, Maria started to stir in her sleep, muttering something as she started to enter the land of the awake. The creature started to hurriedly look around for a hiding place and, catching sight of such a place dove for it and disappeared inside.

Maria sat up, looking around for whatever it was that might had woken her, blue eyes alert. Climbing down the ladder in her blue T-shirt and shorts, she hissed, "Liz!"

Liz opened her blue eyes, her face forming a scowl as she glared up at the girl who had disturbed her sleep. "What?" she demanded. The annoyance in her tone clearly said that she wanted to sleep for some time longer.

"I think there's someone in our room," Maria replied quietly. She grabbed her red and black glasses off a bookshelf that was near the ladder.

"It's probably just the cat," her sister muttered grumpily. "Looking for breakfast from you."

"I doubt it. The presence feels malicious, and the alarm hasn't gone off yet - that's his signal to come up here."

Liz got out of her bed in purple pjs identical to Maria's and opened her wardrobe. "You probably just had a bad dream." She took out her lavender glasses and looked around. "Nothing seems to be off." She started to take her glasses off again when she looked over at he digital clock that sat on top of Maria's wardrobe, which had its back right up against the headboards of the bunk beds.

Liz let out a sigh. "Oh, it's six. Guess it's time we got up, anyway." She flipped the room's light switch to the "on" position, flooding the room with light.

They quickly slipped into respective outfits they had left out the day before: Maria now wore a red T-shirt and jeans with white shoes that had red stripes, and Liz was in the same outfit, but with a purple shirt instead, and her shoes had dark blue stripes.

Maria started going through a pile of clothes in the corner of the room that contained the end of her wardrobe that could be opened.

"I don't see my orange jacket in here," the teenager noted, frowning.

"It's probably in your wardrobe," Liz said as she put on a white jacket. "I don't think you really need it. How warm is it out there?"

"Something like fifty degrees," Maria replied. "A bit too cold for just a short-sleeved shirt and jeans, if you ask me."

"Here," came a muffled voice from Maria's wardrobe. "Is this what you're looking for?" A large hand in a black glove came out, holding an item of clothing.

"Thanks!" Maria said, grabbing the orange jacket. She started to put it on, then slowed down slightly as she realized what had just occurred. "Who's in my wardrobe?"

Maria opened the doors wide, revealing a large animal with a big chin, big eyes, and short, pointy ears. It was also wearing some sort of red-and-blue outfit that looked somewhat like armor.

Maria blinked a couple times, getting a good look at the creature, her reaction time slow as it was still early in the morning. A couple seconds later, she let out a gasp. "You!"

"What about me?" the creature retorted.

"You're...Pete!"

Liz looked over and let out a squeal. "What's he doing in there?! I thought he was just supposed to be a cartoon!"

"So did I!" Maria replied. "And he's in the same getup as the one in those cutscenes we've been watching..." She started to back up to the door of the bedroom. "I think I'll go warn Mom and Dad."

Pete looked panicked at the notion, and then an angry look came over his face. "Oh no, you don't! Yer comin' with me!" He quickly grabbed the two girls by their jackets as some sort of black portal opened up in the center of the room. Pete then barreled into the portal, carrying one girl in each arm, both struggling to get free.

"Let us GO!" Maria yelled. She tried to push against Pete's thick arm in order to drop to the carpeted floor, but it only wrapped around her more tightly.

"Fat chance," Pete replied as he ran through some sort of dark corridor. "You two saw me, so you won't be tellin' nobody about my bein' in your world. So you're coming to mine."

Liz growled. "You meanie!"

"I ain't mean," Pete replied as if the insult were nothing. "Just wait 'till you meet my boss!"

The two girls looked at each other across Pete's belly. Neither had any real idea what he meant.

Just as they emerged through a portal at the other side of the strange corridor, Pete shouted, "I'm baaack!" The portal then closed, much to the horror of the girls.

"About time," said a cold voice.

Maria's head turned to see a tall woman in a black robe coming down some stone stairs. She carried a tall, black staff with a green orb on the top, and she wore what seemed to be ram horns on her head.

Maria took in a quick breath. "No, way. This can't be happening..."

Liz glared at the figure with dark intent. "It seems like it is."

Pete unceremoniously dropped the two girls, who let out squeals as they hit the stone floor. The Disney cat saluted as the woman stopped in front of him. "You were right! There are other worlds out there. I found myself in a small house, and discovered these two kids. Surprisingly, they recognized me."

"Of course we recognized you!" Maria snapped as she got up. "You're Mickey's archenemy!"

"Do you recognize me, then?" the woman inquired. The look on her face was calm, calculating, and cold.

"Well, duh! Of course we recognize you," Liz snapped as she got up. "You're Malificent!"

"Correct," Malificent replied. "Now, pray tell, what are your names?"

"I don't know if we should tell you, you...hag!" Maria replied haughtily. She looked proud at being able to come up with something that could get on the evil witch's nerves.

"Yeah!" Liz agreed, giving a determined nod.

Malificent glared at the two girls while Pete nervously backed away, obviously expecting something.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR YOUR INSOLENCE!" Malificent roared, blasting them with a shockwave of bright green power.

The two girls screamed in agony as the shockwave hit, sending green electricity through their limbs. The two fell to the ground, unmoving.

Malificent, still burning with anger, turned to Pete and said, "Take these two to the empty cell. Watch them, and report to me if they wake."

Pete nodded, then moved to grab the children. He had picked up Liz and was starting to reach for the other, only to become surprised to find that Maria staring into space.

"Kingdom Hearts...is...real," the girl murmured before her eyes closed. Maria instantly went limp.

Pete frowned as he picked up Maria. He didn't have any idea what that meant, but he supposed he'd just have to ask the girl when she woke up.

After adjusting his grip on his cargo, he lumbered off for the cell Malificent had mentioned. He kept the information to himself, thinking that his boss hadn't heard him.

But Malificent had heard what the girl had said.

_Hmmm, interesting,_ the witch thought to herself. _But what could the child mean? I already know that Kingdom Hearts exists. Perhaps she is referring to something else? But what could share its name?_

The sorceress turned and started the trek to her sleeping chambers, preparing to turn in as she considered what the new arrival had said.

**Time Break. Some hours later...**

Liz let out a moan and got up, rubbing her head. "Ugh. What's with this stupid headache?"

She started muttering angrily as she looked about, only to start blinking in confusion upon not finding herself in her bedroom, but in a prison cell that didn't look like it had been used in the last century. Even adjusting her glasses' position didn't change what she was looking at.

Recalling what had happened to cause her headache, Liz jumped up and dashed for the door. Spotting Pete through the partially rotting door's barred window, Liz exclaimed, "You! What did Malificent do to me and my sister? And where are we?"

Pete, who appeared to be leaning against the wall across the corridor, looked over at Liz with a look of half-surprise. "Well, that's one of the two brats," he muttered - seemingly to himself. "Now I gotta wait for the other one to wake up."

Liz blinked, then frowned. "Other one...?"

She looked behind herself in order to get another look at her cell. Liz's eyes widened when she saw Maria leaning against a wall in a back corner with half-closed eyes. She looked like she had been out of it for some time.

Liz quickly moved over to her sister. "Maria!" she hissed. "Wake up!"

Her sister didn't move.

Liz kneeled on the floor and started to shake her. "Maria!"

Her sister didn't respond.

"What's wrong with you? WAKE UP!" When Maria refused to answer, Liz did a double face palm and let out a loud groan of frustration that sounded like "Uhhhhh!"

Pete, being the curious and dimwitted Disney character he is, came over to the door and peered. "Is that what your sister's called? Maria?"

Liz looked up at him with an intense glare that could have probably burned the door if it did have any actual power behind it. "Yeah. You got a problem with that?" Her tone was cold and annoyed, matching the look on her face to a "t."

"Not at all," Pete said hurriedly. The look reminded him of Malificent's for some reason...

A curious look came over the jail-keeper's face. "What're you called, then?"

"...We told you earlier, it's NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

Liz jutted her arm out in front of her, causing a sword that looked like it was made of water to appear. Instinctively, she slammed the ground with the weapon, causing a flash of light as the sword disappeared. Then a blue portal appeared beneath Liz, and she disappeared into the vortex.

In the corner, Maria stirred, and she was sucked into the portal, as well.

Pete's eyes widened in surprise upon seeing Liz's actions, and they widened further when Maria was sucked in and disappeared in a flash of light.

"Malificent is going to be real mad when she hears about this," Pete muttered, looking terrified out of his wits.

"Hear about what?" asked a cold voice behind the fat cat.

**Well, you can probably tell that I've made a couple changes already - considering that I've taken parts of the first two chapters and smushed them together. You can expect more of that later - I can guarantee that.**

**So...what do you guys think of the new version of the Disney Kingdom? Don't be afraid to tell me! I want to hear your thoughts!**


	2. Meet the gang -- well, most of it

**Hello again! NaNoWriMo has started up again, and I'm going to be majorly busy with that during this month, so that plus school means that my story updates are going to become a bit more erratic. So Follow...Favorite...just know that I might not be able to post once a week for all my stories.**

**And here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter 2 - Meet the gang. At least, most of it.**

Liz shook her head as she came to, a second headache rattling her brain.

"Man, this day just keeps getting better and better," she muttered sarcastically in a low growl, getting up into a kneeling position.

Liz stated to look around at her new surroundings, surprised and a little confused to find herself sitting in a dead-end alley, and not the prison cell. Even more confusing - and also terrifying - was that Maria was nowhere in sight.

"Am I back on Earth?" Liz asked quietly, frowning slightly. "And where's Maria?"

She looked around again, hoping to catch sight of her older sister, but Maria was nowhere in sight.

Just then, someone tall with brown hair appeared at the open end of the alley, then catching sight of the confused girl, walked towards her, then got down on one knee in order to get a better look at Liz.

"Hey, you look pretty lost," the figure stated in a gentle, yet gruff tone. "What are you doing back here?"

Liz looked up at the taller figure, blinking in confusion as she took note of the black leather jacket, white shirt, and jeans the figure was wearing. Then she noticed the sword hilt that came up from behind him, which directed Liz to the figure's face.

Liz recognized the figure almost immediately.

"Leon!" she exclaimed, a relieved look appeared on her face. "Am I glad to see you!"

The dark-haired figure - his name now revealed - frowned at Liz in confusion. "Have I...run into you before?" he asked slowly, his frown shifting to a look of suspicion.

"No," Liz replied with a shake of her head. "No you haven't, but I've heard a lot about you." Another thought popped into her head. "Listen, I need to contact Sora as soon as possible. Could you help me with that?"

Leon raised an eyebrow. "I get I know where you heard about me, then." He got to his feet, then offered Liz a hand in getting up. When the girl had gotten to her feet, he continued, "You heard about me from Sora, didn't you?"

Liz shook her head. "Not really, no." She gave Leon a pleading look. "But I have to find him - it's a matter of life and death!"

Leon frowned, the suspicious look returning. "I don't know if I should. If Sora hasn't met you, then why are you looking for him? He's busy training for the Mark of Mastery Exam, last time I checked."

"It's about my sister," Liz responded, worry creeping into her voice. "She's being held by Malificent! Please, I need his help in order to get her out of that witch's castle!"

Leon's eyebrows arched, but he suspicious look soon returned. "This is Radiant Garden, not Malificent's world. How would you know where your sister is?"

"Because I was just there!"

Leon's frown deepened. "How did you get here, then?"

"I-I don't know! All I remember is a bright flash and some sort of watery thing in my hands!"

Liz threw her arms out, only for a flash to occur in her right hand, and the mentioned "watery thing" appeared in her grip. After a moment, the object flashed, and the water was exchanged for a sword with a curve: a scimitar. The hilt was purple and dusty blue, with a keychain that came off the end. Connected to that was a dark purple gem shaped like the head of a dragon.  
Liz looked at the sword with wide eyes, turning her wrist this way and that in order to get a better look at the blade. "Whoa..." She turned her attention to Leon. "Now can I talk to Sora?" Her voice carried a tone of annoyance that clearly stated, "See? I told you so!"

Leon shook his head. "Like I told you, he's training, and no one except for Yen Sin knows where he is." A serious look appeared on his face. "It might be a good idea to talk to the old wizard about your sword, though." He motioned to the blade Liz was holding. "Come on." He turned and dashed out of the alley and turned to the right when he had left the alley.

Liz grinned, then took off after Leon.

**Space Break**

"So, you're telling me that you and your sister came from another world and you guys ran into Malificent, who cast some sort of spell on your sister," a girl with black hair and wearing a matching outfit stated.

Liz nodded. "That's right, Yuffie. Now, hurry up and contact Yen Sid!" She motioned to the computers that were standing nearby, lining the walls of the room she, Yuffie, and Leon were standing in.

"It isn't that easy," Leon warned, his arms crossed over his chest. "We can't just send a signal when we don't really know if there's anyone on his world."

"Fine," Liz replied haughtily. "Then I'll find a way to get there myself."

Liz started to walk out, but Yuffie stopped her by grabbing Liz's arm.

"Hold on there, Liz. You don't know what's out there," the ninja girl warned.

Liz looked at her, a slightly annoyed look on her face. "Is there anything out there besides Heartless and Nobodies?"

"Xehanort," Leon pointed out in a grim tone. He frowned. "Tell me again - where did you learn all this?"

"I didn't tell you before," Liz retorted. "Let's just say that I know a lot." She shook her head as an annoyed look appeared on her face. "Look, is there a way to contact Sora's friends? Riku or Kairi would do just as well right about now, but Sora would be best."

Leon and Yuffie looked at each other, gauging what Liz had just said.

"Let's just try the Mysterious Tower," Yuffie finally stated. "Yen Sid doesn't leave that place, anyway." She looked at Liz. "But no running off, O.K.?"

Liz nodded begrudgingly. "Yeah, yeah. All right."

Leon turned to computer behind him and typed something in. Grabbing a nearby microphone, he stated, "This is Radiant Garden to Mysterious Tower. Is anyone there?"

For a moment, there was only the sound of static from the speaker. But then, there was something that sounded like a chuckle from the speakers.

_::Hey there, Leon! This is Goofy! What can we do for ya?:: _asked a cheery voice. It sounded like whoever was on the other end might have been grinning.

"There's this girl over here," Leon replied. "I haven't met her before in my life, but she somehow knows who I am." He glanced back at Liz, who had her left hand on her hip while the right dangled in a relaxed way. She was still holding onto her sword. "The kid claims to have come from another world with her older sister, who's apparently being held captive by Malificent."

_::Gwarsh, that sounds really bad! What's her name?::_

"Liz."

_::Well, uh...Ya mind if I talk to her?::_

Leon let out a sigh. "All right." He handed the microphone to Liz, who took it in her free hand.

"Hi, Goofy!" Liz greeted. "I'm Liz."

_::Hi! It's nice to meet ya, Liz::_ Goofy replied. Liz was certain that the Disney character was still grinning. _::Ya mind tellin' me what happened?::_

"Well, when Maria and I woke up this morning, Pete was hiding in Maria's closet. We were about to warn everyone in the house when Pete grabbed us and took us from our world into Mailificent's. Once we'd met the witch and made her mad, I kinda blacked out. When I came to, my sister and I were in a cell, and Maria was still out of it. I tried to wake her up, but nothing worked. I'm not sure what happened next, because there was this bright flash that made me black out again. Next thing I knew, I was sitting in an alley in Radiant Garden. That's where Leon found me."

Out of the corner of her eye, Liz saw Leon and Yuffie exchange slightly skeptical glances upon hearing her story again.

_::Gwarsh! That's some story::_ Goofy remarked. _::I suppose you wanna go back and rescue your sister, right?::_

"That's right," Liz confirmed with a nod. "I was hoping to get Sora's help, but Leon said he was busy."

_::A-yup! Sora's off trainin' for the Mark of Mastery Exam, and we don't know where he is. But Master Yen Sid might. Hold on; I'm gonna go get him::_

Liz had to wait for about a minute and a half before a wise, gruff voice came over the speaker system.

_::You are Liz, correct?::_

"Yeah," Liz replied with another nod. "And you're Yen Sid, right?"

_::Correct. Goofy has informed me of what has occurred. Do you know of what might have caused yourself to teleport from Malificent's domain to the Radiant Garden?::_

"I think so," Liz replied. She looked down at the sword in her right hand and rotated her wrist again, watching as the blade caught the light and gained an aquamarine hue. "This curved sword appeared in my hand when I was talking to Leon earlier - that could have caused me to teleport or whatever it was."

_::Hmmm... Liz, do you believe that you can cause that to happen again? And this time, concentrate on the Mysterious Tower::_

On another screen, a picture of a tower that was a little crooked appeared.

_::Can you do that, Liz?::_

Liz blinked, then gave a nervous nod. "I-I can give it a try."

After putting down the microphone, Liz closed her eyes and pictured the Mysterious Tower in her mind, concentrating on wanting to get there. Her grip tightened on the sword at her side which, unbeknownst to her, started to pulse with light in response to what she was thinking.

Yuffie let out a gasp, causing Liz to open her eyes at the sound of the girl's voice.

Right in front of Liz, where the computer was, a blue portal was open and waiting for someone to step through.

Liz look back at Leon and Yuffie. When she saw the looks of surprise on their faces, she smirked.

"See you guys later," the girl said, and she stepped through the portal.

The corridor Liz ended up in looked nothing like the one Pete had ended up running into when she had first traveled by portal - instead of being dark and looking a little terrifying, the portal corridor was a bit more inviting.

Still, Liz didn't want to stay for long, she ran through the corridor, and a bright flash changed the scenery again - this time to a starry night sky and a crooked tower that looked like it had some sort of...magician's hat at the top.

Liz craned her neck as she looked up at the tower. "Wow. I didn't think it was that tall." She took a quick look around, then started walking around the base of the tower. "Where's the front door?"

"Hey! Kid!"

The brown-haired girl turned her head, and her eyes widened when she caught sight of the person who had spoken: a silver-haired teenage boy wearing a yellow and black vest and jeans.

"You're Liz, right?" the boy asked when she had approached Liz. "The girl Yen Sid said was coming?"

Liz blinked, then gave a nod. "Y-yeah, that's me."

"I'm Riku," the boy stated. He made a motion with his head. "Come on; the entrance is this way." He turned and took off again around the tower, Liz following close behind. They reached the double-doored entrance to the tower in a short time.

Riku opened one of the doors, then motioned for Liz to step inside.

"Master Yen Sid's study is on the top floor," he explained.

Liz blinked, then gave a hesitant nod. "Thanks." She looked through the doorway at the staircase for a moment, then stepped inside and started up the stairs.

Below, Riku stepped in and closed the door behind him with an echoing noise that seemed to travel up the tower after Liz. However, it had faded by the time she had reached the wooden door at the top of the staircase.

Riku came up behind her and, after opening the door himself, slipped inside. Cautiously, with a mix of nervousness and excitement, Liz followed close behind.

A blur of blue and white was in front of Liz in an instant.

"Who're you?" the duck in front of her demanded angrily. "Are you the intruder I sensed with my magic?" He waved the staff in his wing at Liz, the three orbs on top flashing with a strange energy.

"Calm yourself, Donald," responded a voice. "She is a welcomed guest."

Liz looked past the duck, and her eyes widened upon seeing who had spoken.

The old, gray-bearded man walked over, the dark blue robe he wore and matching pointed hat marking him to be a wizard. His wise eyes scanned Liz as she looked up at the wizard in awe.

"Yen Sid," Liz murmured as she looked up at him.

The wizard inclined his head. "So, you have heard of me."

"Who hasn't?" An eager smile appeared on Liz's face.

"Hmm..." Yen Sid gained a thoughtful expression. "I suppose you are Liz, correct? The child who claims to have a sister held captive by Malificent?"

Liz blinked in surprise at the accusation hidden in the wizard's questions. "She is my sister, and she is being held by Malificent! I'm not lying!" She gestured emphatically as she spoke, causing her sword to swing about. This forced those who had been standing near her to back up in order to avoid getting sliced.

"Careful!" Goofy yelped. "Ya don't wanna hurt anybody!"

Liz looked over and gave an apologetic, nervous smile to Goofy. "Oops. Heh-heh. Sorry about that." She looked down at her sword and frowned at it. "Why won't it disappear like the Keyblades do?"

Riku stiffened a little. "You know about Keyblades?"

Liz cocked her head to one side, giving Riku a curious look. "Uh... Yeah. Why? Doesn't everybody?"

"No, they do not," Yen Sid replied. "Keyblades are not weapons that are usually known by inhabitants of other worlds - and especially not children such as yourself."

"Well, in my world, plenty of people know about you guys," Liz replied confidently. "Which is why we need to get my sister away from Malificent - stat. She knows what I know about you guys, and if that witch gets it out of her, you're going to be in big trouble."

The group present looked at Liz in surprise, then exchanged glances with each other. Yen Sid still kept his gaze on Liz, however, maintaining a guarded expression.

"What world do you come from?" Yen Sid inquired, frowning slightly.

"Earth," Liz replied. "At least, that's what we call it." She shrugged. "I don't know if you call where I come from any different."

The wizard's eyes narrowed slightly. "This could prove to be a problem."

"What do you mean?" Goofy asked, looking concerned.

"There have been some people who have come from that world and have either traveled through the waking worlds...or the ones of sleep." The serious look on Yen Sid's face became even more so as a determined look came over his face. "Your sister may be doing such a thing even as we speak."

Liz's eyes widened. "Really? But how?"

"It may have something to do with what you faced when you arrived in Malificent's domain," Yen Sid replied. "Can you tell us againg what happened when you arrived there?"

Liz blinked, then let out an annoyed sigh. "All right. This morning, when Maria woke me up, she said that there was someone in our room, which I didn't believe. Turned out she was actually right..."

**So, more changes have occured. And, next chapter, we get to hear from Maria! So stay tuned!**


	3. Under the Sea (without the song)

**Hey, guys! Long time, no see! Been a while since I updated last, considering NaNoWriMo. But, I'm taking a break for a moment just to get this chapter up! Happy reading!**

**Chapter 3 - Under the sea**

_"Milo! Where did you find this kid? And how did she get on the sub?!"_

_"L-like I know! She just...appeared out of thin air!"_

Maria let out a groan. The headache was a doozy, and the voices she was hearing didn't exactly help, either. There was something familiar enough about them both that caused her to crack open her eyelids in order to see who had been speaking. A moment later, they were flung open wide upon seeing who was looking down at her.

"Hey, guys, I think she's awake." The spiky-haired redhead who had been looking down at Maria looked over in the direction of the pair who had been bickering.

Two other faces appeared in Maria's vision: a young woman with a deep tan and wearing a dark blue cap, with gray heavy duty gloves on her hands; the other was a scrawny young man with glasses that looked like they were too big for his face.

"All right, kid," the young woman stated, a suspicious look appearing on her face. "Who are you, and how did you get here?"

"M-my name's Maria," Maria replied. She was a little nervous with three people staring her in the face, waiting expectantly for an answer. "And I don't know how I got here." She gave a shrug and a sheepish-looking smile. "Last thing I remember is a Disney character blasting me with a blast of magic or something."

"Disney?" The woman raised an eyebrow. "You mean the guy who makes cartoons?"

Maria gave a nod. "Uh, yeah. You guys do know about his movie _Sleeping Beauty_, right?"

The three exchanged glances, each with varying levels of confusion on their faces.

"I don't think he's made a movie like that yet," the man stated. He sounded nervous - even more nervous than Maria sounded, but definitely as nervous as she felt.

"Really? I watched it a lot when I was a kid." Maria frowned.

The redhead's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked down at Maria with a suspicious expression. After a moment, he looked back up at the other two. "You mind if I talk to the kid alone?"

The woman gave the redhead a glare and started to protest, but the man cut her off.

"I can figure out where she's from if you guys will leave the two of us alone, all right?"

The man grabbed the woman's arm; he looked somewhat alarmed by the look the redhead was giving them. "Come on," he muttered.

Reluctantly, the woman let the man lead her away; Maria heard a door close not too long after they had gotten out of sight.

"Sit up," the redhead stated abruptly. He moved away from where he had been standing as Maria did so; the girl found herself sitting in what looked like an infirmary.

"How can you know about something that hasn't happened yet?" the redhead demanded as he started to pace around the end of the bed that had Maria's feet. "That doesn't happen without a reason."

"Well, _Sleeping Beauty_'s supposed to have been out for a while," Maria argued, glaring at the redhead. After a moment, she blinked in slight confusion, her frown deepening. "At least, it is where I come from..." Realizing her glasses were askew, she reached up and adjusted their position on her nose.

The redhead stopped mid-step and looked at her with something that might have been surprise, his light green eyes widening.

"Where you come from?" he repeated. "Are you saying you come from another world?"

Maria gave a slightly hesitant nod. "Yeah. Me and my sister, but it doesn't look like she's here..." Maria looked around at the room, but didn't see anyone other than herself and the redhead.

"Sister?" The redhead let out a groan. "You have got to be kidding me. There's another one of you running around?"

"I just hope she's still not stuck with Malificent," Maria muttered, looking down as she rubbed her left arm.

The redhead's eyes widened in shock. "Oh, boy. That wouldn't be good."

"Yeah. Exactly." Maria moved so that she was sitting with her feet dangling over the side. "I'm getting the feeling that Liz and I weren't supposed to leave our world. In fact, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Pete poking his fat nose where it didn't belong." She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Really?" The redhead walked over, crossing his own arms over his own chest. Maria had been ignoring the black outfit he had been wearing, but now she took notice of it.

Looks like he still hasn't gotten out of that other costume, Maria noted somewhat grimly.

"What world are you from then?" the redhead asked. "Maybe I can get you home."

"First we have to find my sister," Maria insisted. "And she could be anywhere."

The redhead let out a groan. "Listen, kid -"

"It's Maria. Remember it."

"And I'm Lea." The boy tapped the side of his head, looking a little annoyed. "I can't just take you along just because you're looking for your sister. You can stay on this sub with the crew while everybody else - including me - can go on this expedition-thingy that this rich old guy set up."

Maria stiffened when she heard Lea's words. "Sub? As in, submarine?"

Lea gave the girl a curious expression. "Uh...yeah?"

"And by 'rich old guy', do you mean someone named Whitmore?"

Lea blinked, frowned, then gave a slow nod.

Upon seeing the motion, Maria scrambled off the bed she had been sitting on and dashed for the door, then out into the corridor.

"Wha - hey!" Lea ran out after her and grabbed Maria's arm. "What's got you so spooked? You look like you might have seen a ghost or something."

"You would probably do the same thing if you ended up in the same place as one of your most favorite movies!" Maria hissed in reply.

Lea frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Where I come from, the stuff you did was made into games, and the stuff that we're in the middle of right now," Maria motioned to the narrow corridor, "is put into movies. This specific movie happens to be one of my favorites."

Lea stared at Maria. "You can't be serious."

"I'm about as serious as Riku in the middle of a fight against Heartless right about now." Maria glared up at Lea, then started to look around. "Which way to the front of the sub, anyway?"

Lea gave Maria a curious look, then glanced down the hall behind him. Looking back at the girl, he stated, "Look, I probably don't have time to tell you everything you should know, but...don't do anything stupid, all right?"

Maria blinked, then gave a nod. "Yeah. Sure."

Lea gave a nod. "Good." He turned and started down the corridor, and Maria followed close behind.

"So, why are you here in this specific world?" Maria asked quietly. She wasn't sure if anyone might have been listening in, but she didn't want anyone to jump in on their conversation.

Lea glanced back. "Riku and Yen Sid sent me out so that I could wake up other sleeping worlds. Hey dropped me in this place, first."

"Sleeping worlds?" Maria blinked in confusion.

"Yeah. Places that got swallowed by the darkness and haven't exactly been brought back to the light yet. It's my job to get to the rest of them."

Maria's eyes widened. "Rest of them? You mean someone else has woken up other worlds, too?"

Lea looked back at the girl and gave her a curious look. "Uh...yeah? Sora and Riku had to go through this Mark of Mastery Exam or something. It was supposed to see if either of them were ready to be Keyblade masters."

Maria felt a chill go down her spine. _That was when... So DDD _has_ happened._

"And they sent you to go after the rest, " Maria repeated. "Does that make this your Mark of Mastery Exam?"

Lea's eyes widened. "No! They just want to make sure that I learn stuff!"

"Oh." Maria smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment at the question. "Ok, then." The smile faded as another thought entered her mind. "But...wouldn't that mean that one of the other Keyblade users would be hanging around somewhere near here? I mean, there's some stuff that you just can't learn by yourself, can you?"

"I'm used to being alone," Lea replied. "Sora and Riku managed it on the go. I can, too."

The pair soon reached the front of the sub - a sphere where it seemed that everything was happening - and Maria started to look around in amazement.

"Wow..." The girl's blue eyes were wide. "This looks so much cooler in person!"

Lea rolled his eyes. "Calm down, kid. We're not here to sightsee, we're here on an expedition."

Maria blinked, then a determined look appeared on her face. "Right." Still, the bridge of the sub was really affecting her, and she continued to look around in amazement.

"Lea!"

Maria jumped at the sound of the friendly voice and turned when she heard someone call out the name of the Keyblade user standing next to her. Her eyes widened when she saw the muscular, middle-aged man approaching the two.

"Is this the girl who stowed away on the _Ulysses_?" the man asked, walking over and scanning Maria with a mildly curious expression on his face. He appeared to be somewhat friendly.

"Yeah," Lea replied. "Kid says her name's Maria."

The man stiffened. "Maria? That sounds like a German name." His voice suddenly became cold. "She could be a spy from the enemy."

"Spy?" Maria felt miffed. "Do I look like a spy to you?"

"I can assure you, she isn't that," Lea stated quickly. "She's not one of those Nazi people."

Maria's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets, and she looked a little terrified at the idea of her being a Nazi.

"I can assure you, I'm a hundred percent American!" Maria declared, a terrified look on her face. "I live in Wisconsin!"

The man raised an eyebrow. "No one's suspecting that you're a Nazi, kid. You could be spying for someone else, though. Someone who wanted to do the same thing that we're doing."

Maria blinked, then relaxed a little, looking embarrassed. She could feel everyone's stared on her. "Oh. Well, I'm not one of those people, either. If I was, I probably wouldn't be sixteen." She stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"So, you're a stowaway," the man stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Accidentally," Maria replied, looking a little hurt. "I wasn't planning on turning up here."

The man let out a chuckle. "That is the odd thing about stowaways. They can't help it." He relaxed and moved to put an arm around Maria, squeezing the girl's shoulder tightly. "Well, we'll have to do something about that, now won't we?"

Maria swallowed. "Y-yes, sir." She didn't like the look on the man's face - or what his voice sounded like, for that matter.

The chuckle turned into a laugh. "Look at that! The kid knows her manners already!" Leaning over, the man muttered in her ear, "And I'm Commander Rourke. Remember it."

Maria gave a nod as Rourke moved away. The name was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it for some reason. She had seen the movie she was standing in the middle of plenty of times before, but the scenes that were going to take place in the future weren't coming to her mind for some reason.  
Whitmore's mansion? Sure, Maria remembered that. But not everything else that came after.

"Well, that went well," Lea remarked dryly. "Maybe you'll be able to get along with everybody else." The redhead lead Maria over to another area of the bridge, where there was a small group of people who were conversing. Nearby, the scrawny man with the glasses that were too big was looking into a leather-bound book that had a strange symbol on the front cover.

Maria gave a nervous wave when the group turned to look at her. "Hi." Her voice sounded small - she certainly felt small.

The tanned girl from before stomped over. "Don't 'hi' me. We're not supposed to have stowaways wandering around here." Maria thought there was an accent in the girl's voice, but she wasn't sure.

"Like I expected myself to show up here," Maria replied with a helpless shrug.

Lea gave the group a look. "Her name's Maria, and there's nothing we can do about sending her back home."

"How do you know?" the girl demanded. "We can always send a sub-pod up to the surface -"

"We still need everybody, Audrey," an even darker-skinned man remarked. He stepped forward and held out a hand to Maria. "Name's Sweet. Welcome aboard."

Maria accepted the handshake. "Thanks." She offered the man a smile, then looked around at the rest of the group. "And the rest of you?"

"That's Vinny," Sweet stated, jabbing with a thumb in the direction of a skinny, black-haired man with a cigar and a mustache. "He's supposed to be our demolitions expert. And Audrey's the mechanic."

"Humph." Audrey crossed her arms across her chest in an annoyed fashion.

"And then there's Mole," Sweet continued. He sent a glare at a short man with a lamp attached to the top of his head; the man was grinning maniacally. "No idea what he is."

"I'm going to help dig!" Mole declared excitedly, his grin getting wider.

Maria blinked. "O...kay?" She looked over in the direction of the young man with his nose in the book. "And him?"

Audrey looked over at the scrawny boy. "Him? That's Milo - or something like that. No idea why he's here."

"Mr. Whitmore had him brought along because he can read that stuff," Lea said, motioning to Milo with one hand. "I had a look in that book. It's complete gibberish."

The group laughed, but Maria didn't join in. She kept looking over at Milo with a curious expression.

Eventually, quietly, Maria slipped out of the group and approached Milo with quiet, cautious footsteps. When she got close enough, she stated quietly, "Hey."

Milo looked up suddenly, surprise in his eyes when he saw someone looking at him from over his book. "Oh! Uh...hi." Milo frowned. "Is there something that you want?"

Maria shook her head. "I was just curious about what you were reading, that's all. Can I have a look?"

Milo looked at Maria for a moment, then smiled a little and shook his head. "You won't be able to read it." He turned the book around so that Maria could see what was on the pages. "It's complete gibberish to everyone but me."

Maria blinked, looking over the pages. There were a couple pictures, but those weren't what she was looking for. Eventually, a slight smirk appeared on her face. "Well, I know what an 'A' is in all this gibberish."

Milo blinked in surprise. "Really?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah. The symbol on the cover. It's gotta be an 'A'."

Milo quickly closed the book and looked at the front cover, his eyes widening as he looked at the letter. "H-how'd you know?" he asked, looking at Maria in alarm.

Maria gave him a half-shrug. "Intuition." She moved her gaze to out through the glass window and at the dark sea beyond the sub. Something about the view set her on edge, but she made it a point to ignore it. "I've never been under the sea before."

Milo looked a little confused at the sudden change of subject, then turned to look back at the dark cavern. "Yeah, uh..." A nervous look flitted across his face. "I'd rather prefer to be on dry ground." He looked back at Maria. "So, what you said earlier - about Disney and the Sleeping Beauty story. What did you mean by that?"

Maria froze, her eyes widening when she realized that she had mentioned something that Milo knew nothing about.

"Umm..." Maria brought her hands together and started to twiddle her thumbs as she tried to think of something to say that could possibly explain why she knew about something that they claimed hadn't come out yet.

However, Maria never had to say anything concerning her unusual knowledge.

The ground under their feet was suddenly rocked; Maria tripped and fell against a railing with a squeak of surprise. Alarms started blaring, and the entire bridge started to glow a bright red.

Lea looked around, a serious look appearing on his face. "What in the name of Kingdom Hearts is going on here?!" His gloved hands twitched, and he looked like he wanted to grab something and swing it at anyone who came close.

Maria gripped tightly to the railing. "This isn't good...not good at all." She started to move along the railing towards the exit of the bridge. "We've gotta get out of here!"

"What do you mean?!" Audrey demanded, running past. "We've just run into a rock or something, that's all!"

Maria shuddered, and visions came into her sight unbidden. _A mechanical monster...electric sparks..._

"I-it's definitely not a rock," Maria stammered, her eyes wide.

The sub moved again, and Maria found herself gripping the railing tightly as her legs dangled in the air. Below her, a giant red orb with a yellow center was glaring up at Milo and Lea.

"Jiminy Christmas!" Milo yelped. "It's a MACHINE!"

"We have to get out of here!" Maria screamed from above. "Hurry!" She started to try to climb up the railing, but she wasn't able to get a good foothold, and her grip started to slip. As she started to fall, she started to scrabble more frantically. Right before she fell, a hand reached out a gripped her arm.

"You look like you could use a little help."

Maria looked up, blinking in confusion and surprise at Rourke, who was giving the girl a slight smirk. He then pulled her up to her feet as Lea helped Milo climb up with unusual swiftness.

"We have to get to the sub-pods before that thing takes us down," Rourke stated quickly. "Come on - all of you!" He started off down the corridor. The three others followed behind with equal speed.

The corridors were though to navigate - some were ankle-deep with cold, salt water, and others had been sealed off. Rourke, who seemed to know the sub like the back of his hand, led them to the docking bay.

"About time you got here!" A blond-haired woman glared at them from the top of a small submarine - the last one in the room. "Audrey was just about ready to hit the ignition switch himself!"

"Like you were going to let her," Rourke replied. He cupped his hands and nodded to Maria. "Up you get."

Maria blinked in confusion, then, realizing what Rourke was doing, out a foot on his hands and pushed herself up, the muscular man lifting her up the rest of the way so that she could get inside. The blond-haired woman helped her in the rest of the way.

"All right, stowaway," the woman growled. "In the back." She pushed Maria in the direction of the back of the sub; she landed in a seat and quickly buckled herself in.

Milo landed in the seat next to Maria, looking completely terrified out of his wits.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die," Milo muttered, terrified.

"We're not gonna die," Lea replied as he slipped into his own seat. The sub started moving as Rourke closed the top and sealed it shut. "Relax, will you? We'll make it."

"Easy for you to say!" Milo shot back. "You're pretty much built for this!"

There was a sudden jolt; Maria gripped her seat's arms and shut her eyes tightly. Flickers of scenes went through the blackness - electricity zapping other pods; falling into a crevice - but she did her best to ignore them. Her muscles tensed up; Maria felt absolutely terrified.

There was another sudden drop; Maria could hear (at her left) Milo chattering something about the pipes of a kitchen sink in some sort of terrified mantra. To her right, Lea was letting out a laugh and a delighted cheer every time Maria's stomach dropped to her feet or rose suddenly to her throat.

And then it was all over, reduced to a slow, gentle rocking that still sent chills down Maria's spine.

"Sheesh, Maria, you look like you've seen a ghost or something," Lea remarked.

Maria cautiously opened one eye, then the other as a look of relief came over his face. "Y-yeah. I'm...not really built for action like that."

"Y-you and me both," Milo stammered.

The sub came up against something; Maria was glad she was wearing a seatbelt, because she was certain she would have ended up get jolted onto the floor.

"Well, we'd better get out and see what's what," the blond-haired woman remarked dryly.

**Well, that's it! What an explosive beginning to Maria's own little jumpstart for adventures!**


	4. Another adventure begins

**Starting now, I'm going to do my best to switch back and forth between Liz's and Maria's perspective worlds - one world a chapter. Meaning that this one's from Liz's perspective.**

**As previous readers of this story already know, that means she's going to be heading out on a treasure hunt.**

**Chapter 4 - start another adventure**

Liz growled as she paced around in the guest bedroom that Yen Sid had lent her for her own use. As soon as the old wizard had come to the realization that Maria was somewhere in the sleeping worlds, he had sent her up to this room and practically locked her in, telling Liz that she wasn't going to leave until they found her sister.

The blue-eyed girl was starting to feel annoyed to no end.

Liz was about to make what seemed like the twentieth pass around her room when the door suddenly opened, and a boy with spiky brown hair and a playful look on his face entered the room.

"Hi!" The boy grinned. "You're Liz, right? The girl Yen Sid told me about?"

Liz blinked, then gave a slow nod. "Yeah. And you're Sora."

Sora's grin became wider, not bothering to respond to the determined in Liz's voice. "Yup! It's it true that you came from another world with your sister?"

Liz gave another nod. "Yeah." An annoyed look crossed her face. "Yen Sid won't let me leave to go look for my sister, though."

"I'm sure he's got a good reason for it," Sora replied. "He _was_ a Keyblade Master."

"Well, yeah, but sometimes you just have to let sisters go out and hunt each other down," Liz replied angrily. "Besides, I was kind of hoping to do some world-exploring myself..." The angered look gave way to a tired, frustrated one, and the girl let out a sigh.

Sora cocked his head slightly, looking at Liz with a curious expression. A frown flitted across his face for a moment, but it quickly brightened into a grin. "How about I take you to another world?"

Liz looked at the boy in surprise. "You? But Yen Sid said -"

"So long as the Keyblade wielder goes along with you, I see no harm in it."

The two turned to face the doorway, Liz's eyes widening in surprise upon seeing the wizard standing there, a patient smile on his face.

"Perhaps you ought to take one other along with you," the wizard continued. He moved to one side, and a girl with short, dark red hair ran into the room, a delighted look on her face.

"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed as he was slammed into by the girl.

"Riku has already left in search of Maria," Yen Sid continued. "As it will take some time for him to find her, you may travel to one world that has need of assistance against the Heartless. One world only, Liz."

Liz smiled and gave a nod. "Right." She looked at the other two. "Where do you want to go?"

"I've kind of wanted to visit Jack Sparrow again," Sora admitted. "It's been a while since I've last seen him. Besides, we could go treasure hunting!"

"I kind of want to go on an adventure," Kairi agreed, "but not to wherever those pirates are. I've heard more than I want to know about that place."

Sora gave Kairi a pouting look, causing Liz to chuckle.

"I believe you can have both in one world," Yen Sid remarked. "There is one place I am aware of that has not had its heart sealed. You may travel there and seal it."

Liz grinned. "Awesome! Where is it?"

"It is a world known for its connection to other worlds." Yen Sid raised an arm, and a portal appeared behind the three. "I will send you to the BenBow Inn. Your adventure begins there."

"Awesome!" Sora exclaimed, grinning. He started towards the portal, then stepped inside. Kairi and Liz quickly followed.

They stepped out of the other side of the portal just as a dark, clouded sky rumbled with thunder and exploded in rain.

"We have to get inside!" Liz yelped as she was quickly soaked. She started to look around for a shelter to wait out the rain.

"There!" Kairi pointed towards a building that was nearby; yellow squares of light were shining out of the windows. "Let's go!"

The three kids quickly scrambled inside, the door slamming shut behind Liz once they were a safe distance away from the rain.

"Oh, my!" A young woman ran over to the three. She looked ragged and was wearing a dress that looked extremely worn. "You three looked soaked to the bone! Here, come over by the fireplace - I'm going to go get some blankets." The woman escorted the three over to the roaring fire, then disappeared upstairs.

Liz blinked, watched after the blur of movement for a moment, then turned her attention to the rest of those who were in the room.

Inside the inn, there were no customers, as they had either gone home or up the stairs to their rooms. The was only one person sitting at a table - a dog in what seemed to be the outfit of a gentleman, including a brown suit, a red scarf, and a monocle. For the most part, it looked like a place that someone might find back in England during the time of Sherlock Holmes...except for the blinds that covered the windows.

Liz took off her soaked jacket and started to rub her arms vigorously in order to try and warm up. She smirked at the blinds.

"My mom would want something like that for our windows," she remarked, motioning to the scene of a flowery meadow that was on the blinds. "It would help brighten up the winter months."

Something about the scene unfolding around Liz seemed familiar to the girl somehow, creating an itch at the back of her mind. The thought was quickly gone in an instant, however, and it was just as soon forgotten.

The woman soon returned, carrying thick blankets, which she promptly wrapped around the three kids. "There. Are you three comfortable?"

Sora gave a nod. "Thanks, ma'am." He wrapped his blanket closer around himself, then moved closer to Kairi and helped her with her blanket.

Liz forced herself not to chuckle. Awwww.

The door suddenly opened as lightning flashed and another thunder rumble shook the building. The light revealed a boy with brown hair, and wearing red boots with black and olive green jeans, a tan shirt, and a dark green jacket. He was supporting a giant lizard-like figure, who was wearing a large black jacket and carrying a chest. The boy dragged the lizard inside as the woman ran over, a terrified look on her face; the dog man leapt to his feet and ran over, as well.

"James Pleiades Hawkins!" the woman exclaimed, worried tones in her voice.

"Mom, he's hurt," the boy - James - replied. He moved to lower the lizard down to the floor; the small chest was dropped with a _clang_.

Sora jumped to his feet, the blanket piling up around his feet. "Whoa. Who's that?"

Liz and Kairi slowly got up and started over to the commotion, both girls cautious of the strange lizard-man.

"Me chest, lad," the lizard moaned. He reached over to the chest and moved his claws over the three symbols on the front. The chest promptly popped open, revealing a brass sphere. "He's coming soon. Can't let him find this." The lizard grabbed the sphere and pressed it into James' hands.

"Who's coming?" James asked, giving he lizard a confused look.

The creature grabbed James' shirt collar and dragged himself up into the boy's face. "The cyborg!" the lizard hissed. His group loosened, and he started to fall back, moaning, "Beware the cyborg..."

The dog quickly bent over the lizard and started to feel for a pulse.

"Is he...?" Kairi couldn't get the word out. She looked a little sick.

Liz felt the same. Watching this event on TV had made it seem more untouchable. Seeing it right in front of her...not so much.

The dog sighed, and he moved back from the lizard-creature. "I'm afraid so." He sounded a little dejected.

James ran over to the window and opened the shade a little, breaking the picture of a flowery meadow. Liz moved behind him in order to get a better look at what he may gave been looking at. Her eyes widened, and she started to back up.

Outside, there was a large group of figures, one of whom seemed to have a gun for his arm.

"We gotta go!" James exclaimed. He turned and dashed up the stairs.

The dog took one look out the window and yelped. "I believe I'm with Jim on this one!" He ran after the boy.

"Come on, you three!" the woman - James' mother - told Liz and the others. "It's not safe here!" she herded the three children up the stairs after the other two - but not before Liz managed to grab her jacket from where it sat by the fireplace.

As they disappeared into the hallway upstairs, a figure broke down the door, ordering, "Find it!"

At the same time, the kitchen suddenly burst into flames.

Liz, Sora, Kairi, and James' mother quickly moved to the end of the hall, where there was a window looking out over a small carriage-like vehicle, the seats still dry even with the downpour. James and the dog were already there, waiting for them.

"Don't worry, Sarah," the dog said hurriedly. "I'm an expert in the laws of physical science. On the count of three. One, two, three!" Grabbing her hand, he jumped into the carriage. Jim quickly followed.

Sora gave Kairi his hand, which she took nervously. The two gave each other a nod, then jumped into the carriage.

"Come on!" Sora called up to Liz. "We've gotta go!"

"I know!" Liz yelled back. She jumped off the ledge of the window, landing nearly on top of Jim, who gave her an annoyed look.

"Go, Delilah, go!" the dog yelled at the giant frog-like creature in front of the carriage.

The figure nodded and flicked the reins, making chirping noises at the steeds in front of the carriage as she did so.

The crickets that were in front of the carriage flicked open their wings and flew forward, allowing the carriage to take to the air.

Behind them, the BenBow Inn rose up in flames.

As the carriage jolted and started to level out, Mrs. Hawkins turned to look at the three extra passengers they had picked up.

"Who are you three?" she asked, looking at each of them.

"I'm Kari." The Princess of Heart gave a gentle smile.

"I'm Sora!" Sora gave Mrs. Hawkins a grin.

"Call me Liz," Liz stated with a nod and a smile.

Mrs. Hawkins gave Liz a curious look. "Call you? Are you saying that's not your real name?"

Sora and Kairi looked at each other, then looked at Liz, who blinked, then let out a sigh.

"My real name is Elizabeth," Liz admitted. "But I think it's a bit of a mouthful, so I ask people to call me Liz."

Mrs. Hawkins tilted her head a minute amount, frowning. "I haven't heard a name shortened in that way before."

"It's pretty common where I come from." Liz shrugged carelessly.

Jim gave Liz a curious look. "Where you come from?" he repeated.

"Yeah." Liz looked at Jim with an annoyed expression. Something slipped into the back of her mind, and she explained, "My parents let me go on a cross-country trip with my friends." She gave a shrug. "They suggested that we get a good look at the world around us before we grew up."

"Well, you're not going to be going anywhere for a couple days," the dog stated. He turned around to look at the kids. "Don't want you getting hypothermia on my watch." He turned around again, then started to give directions to the toad woman driving the carriage.

"Oh, come on," Sora started.

"Doppler's right," Mrs. Hawkins interrupted. "You three are going to stay at his house with us for a couple days. We'll let you go when I know you're not going to die of pneumonia."

Liz looked annoyed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. This was going to be a long trip.

**There you have it. Liz's adventure didn't start in the middle of the movie, as Maria's did, but I'm planning on adding a few things to make Maria's as long...**


	5. Fire Power!

**Starting here and now, I'm adding elements that weren't in Maria's original story. If you pick them out when you write out your reviews, I'll be more than delighted - because that means you know exactly where I am in the movie at this point. Or you just like finding things that I had added. Take your pick.**

**Chapter 5 - Fire power!**

Maria watched as Sweet placed a candle on the water and pushed it out into the darkness of the cavern. The high ceilings and near-complete silence made the cave feel like an abandoned cathedral - which Maria didn't necessarily like the feel of. Abandoned anything made the building more...haunted, and a cave that felt like that never really boded well.

Rourke started to pray aloud, starting with "Dear Lord," and continuing to ask that God bless the souls of those who had been lost and lead them to their final resting place.

Maria considered listening and bowing her head in respect, but as soon as she heard the man say "Saint Mary," she figured that she probably shouldn't. Most of the people here were most likely Catholic, not Lutheran. **[a/n: which I happen to be, by the way]** Instead, she said her own prayer under her breath.

When she finished, Maria looked around, scanning each of the beached sub-pods, the look on her face clearly saying that she wanted to get moving rather than stand where she was. Everyone else who had survived the attack from the monster-machine had grim looks on their faces.

Rourke soon finished his prayer, and the cavern fell into silence.

"Well, we can't head back," Lea finally remarked from where he stood next to Maria. "Not with the sub blown to bits."

"And the Kraken's cousin roaming around," Maria muttered under her breath in a grim tone.

Lea looked around himself, taking note of how few people actually got out of the _Ulysses_ in time. "Man, this expedition's gonna be a bit harder than we thought. At least we've got stuff to ride in." He motioned to the vehicles that had been moved out of the larger sub-pods.

Maria figured that Mole would be fawning over the large drill later.

Rourke turned away from the water, and looked at Milo with a serious, grim countenance. "Well son, you and that blasted book got us into this mess," he stated, motioning to the book in Milo's hands, "and you're going to get us out of it. Lead us to Atlantis, Milo."

Maria stiffened when she heard what Rourke had said. _Atlantis_. A look of realization spread across her face. _Oh, yeah. I should've remembered that._

Milo nodded, a nervous look on his face. Maria had learned by now that it never seemed to leave him. "I-I'll try, Commander. I haven't got the _Journal_ fully translated, so it might take a while."

"Atlantis may as well be our ticket out of here, Milo," Rourke replied. "We have the rest of our lives to look for it."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Audrey asked. "Let's find this place and just get it over with."

The group of survivors split and started to head for the vehicles; Maria stayed close to Lea out of nervousness of everyone else around her.

"You know, you don't have to stick to me like this," Lea remarked, looking down at Maria.

Maria looked up at the redhead, then around again. The pair was walking towards a blue truck that had crates in the back, but the one that got Maria's attention was the little white vehicle that Milo had found; already he was working away at the horn and the different levers that probably made the thing move.

"I'm just...still trying to adjust to the whole idea of me being here, rather than at home on spring break." Maria smiled sheepishly. "And besides, I think I know you better than anyone else here."

"Oh?" Lea looked curious.

"You can only get so much from watching one movie." Maria rubbed the back of her head as they reached the truck. "And it seems that I can't remember everything that happens in the future..."

"Remember what happens in the future?" Lea blinked, then frowned. "That...doesn't make any sense."

Maria smiled slightly, then chuckled. "Yeah, I guess not. But it makes sense in a way - to me, I mean. I've seen what's going to happen, because of the whole movie thing, but I guess I'm not supposed to say anything about what I know or something."

"...You're still not making any sense."

"Hey!" Audrey poked her head out of the driver's side of the truck. "Are you two going to get in or not?!"

"We are," Lea called back. He jumped into the back of the truck.

Maria attempted to follow him, but found it a bit difficult to climb up over the edge of the truck's back and into the pile of crates. She suddenly felt someone grab the back of her shirt and pull her over and into the truck bed.

"You're definitely going to gain some muscle by the end of this," Lea remarked dryly.

The truck's engine was started, and the vehicle rolled over a rock on the cave floor; Maria grabbed hold of a side of the truck bed to keep herself as still as possible. Slowly, the caravan started rolling out of the cavern, leaving the sub-pods and the entrance behind.

"You never really got to explain what you were talking about back on the sub," Lea noted as they rolled up a slope and into an opening in the wall.

Maria's gaze moved from where she had been staring ahead at the back of Mole's drill.

Lea seemed to have taken note of her confused look, because he added, "The movies and games thing."

"Oh." Maria realized that she hadn't been able to explain how she knew that. Quickly gathering her thoughts together, she explained, "On my world, we've got access to different kinds of entertainment that talks about stuff that happened in fairy tales and things - Sleeping Beauty, for instance. Or Snow White. Even the lost legend of _Atlantis_." Maria emphasized the last word on purpose. "And the games thing lets us play as characters in those stories - there's even a few with you in them."

Lea looked interested. "Really?"

"Yeah. We don't get to play as you all that often, though - I _think_ you're playable from the time when you were a Nobody, but nothing with how you are now just yet."

A frown appeared on Lea's face. "But you did get to see me rescue Sora from Xehanort."

Maria nodded vigorously. "Yeah - that was in the recent game, _Dream Drop Distance_. I don't have it myself, but I've seen what goes on in the game. Believe me, it was a relief to see that you were whole _and_ a Keyblade user."

Lea's frown morphed slightly to show a proud expression, but then he looked a little suspicious.

"Kid, what you're saying is impossible," the redhead stated. "The other worlds I've traveled to don't know of each other. How can you know about the other worlds?"

Maria shrugged helplessly. "How should _I_ know? I wasn't the one who came up with all those movies." A frown appeared on her face. "But it _does_ raise a few questions. What if the _other_ worlds I know about actually exist?"

She returned her gaze to the back of Mole's drill as she started to consider this. If the Kingdom Hearts stories were real, then what if everything _else_ she knew to be figments of imagination were actually worlds of their own? The thought made her heart rush with excitement - but then it turned to fear.

_If Pete could access my world, whose to say that the other villains of other worlds can't?_

_That_ thought sent chills down the girl's spine.

"You don't seem to be too worried about trying to find a way back to wherever you came from," Lea noted.

Maria looked over at him. "Oh, I am - trust me. But what I'm worried about more is finding my sister. Liz is younger than I am, and as her older sister, it's a point of mine to worry about how she's doing - and where she is." She crossed her arms over her chest, the thoughts of other worlds disappearing from her mind as all her concentration went to Liz. "I mean, last thing I remember is getting blasted by this magic shockwave or something."

Lea's eyes widened. "Magic shockwave?"

Maria gave a nod. "Yeah. From Malificent." A dry smile slipped onto her face. "We called her a hag. She didn't take it too well."

Lea blinked, but then a grin slowly appeared on his face. "I wouldn't think so." The grin faded. "That must've been some blast, though, if it sent you here. Your sis could be here, too."

Maria gave the redhead a curious look. "You think so?"

"It makes the most sense. She could be anywhere around here."

"You have a sister?" Audrey poked her head out the driver's side window and looked back at the two; the mechanic's foot remained on the gas in order to keep the truck moving.

Maria looked over at Audrey in surprise, then gave a slight nod. "Yeah. A younger one."

"I've got an older sister - she's a boxer. Taught me how to defend myself." A grin appeared on the mechanic's face, and she turned around and faced the road again...only to suddenly slam on the brakes.

Lea leapt to his feet when he saw the strange, colorful rock monsters that were starting to appear out of the walls. "Dream Eaters!"

Maria got to her feet herself, only to barely avoid getting hit by a small sphere that had been fired from one of the creatures. This caused her to promptly sit down again, hiding behind the back of the truck's cab. "What are we going to do?"

Lea glanced over at her, then quickly summoned a blade that looked like it was a tongue of flame. Hitting back the rocks that were being thrown at him, he asked, "Do you know anything about fighting?"

Maria adopted a terrified look on her face, and she shook her head vigorously. "No! I haven't done anything like this before!"

Lea looked at her in disbelief, then frowned. "Stay here, then. And don't try to do anything stupid." He jumped out of he truck bed and started for the rock-like Dream Eaters.

The others in the trucks started to come up with guns, aiming out of the cars' windows and firing a couple shots before Lea shouted at them.

"That isn't going to do anything!" the redhead shouted. "Save that stuff for later, when you really can use it!" He whacked away at one of the Dream Eaters, causing it to fall into a small pile of painted boulders, then dissipated into smoke.

"What do you want us to do, then?" Audrey called. "Sit and wait and possibly get killed?!"

"Do you have any better ideas?!"

Maria peeked over the top of the truck cab, then her eyes widened and she ducked as a rock was shot in her direction. She could hear Lea having at the Dream Eaters, but she felt terrified and extremely helpless.

_Wait a minute... Dream Eaters? Where are the Heartless? Aren't there supposed to be Heartless?_

Maria blinked in confusion, then frowned. Something wasn't right. The only time she ever saw Dream Eaters was... Her eyes widened. _Oh, right. I'm in one of _those_ worlds._

There was the sound of something hitting the top of the truck cab, and Audrey let out a yell and called out something that sounded like it might have been Spanish.

Maria was glad she hadn't decided taken any Spanish classes. All the same, she looked up in order to see what it might have been that Audrey had been yelling at.

There was a rock monster painted in red, yellow, green, and purple with a crazy-looking head ornament looking down at Maria. The girl froze in fear.

"Lea!" Maria yelled. Her voice echoed through the tunnel, but all it did was attract attention from _more_ of the Dream Eaters. Soon, there were at least five of them surrounding the truck. They stared at Maria - whether from curiosity or something else, she wasn't sure.

One thing she was sure of, though - she didn't necessarily like the fact that she was surrounded.

Inside Maria, something snapped.

The terrified look on her face disappeared as a determined glare replaced it. Maria slowly got up to her full height. It felt like her temperature rose with the movement, but the reason why wasn't revealed...until a staff of pure flames exploded into her hands.

With a roar, Maria whirled around, causing the fire to hit each one of the Dream Eaters back, throwing them off the back of the truck bed right before the fire dissipated from between her fingers.

Lea ended up catching one of the Dream Eaters in the back, then made quick work of the others before jumping onto the truck bed. He gave Maria a slightly amused look.

"Said you couldn't fight, huh?" he asked with a smirk.

"I - I didn't -" Maria had to take a couple breaths to calm herself; the adrenaline flowing through her didn't help very much. Looking at Lea, the surprise still on her face, she stated, "I didn't know I had it in me!" She looked down at her hands, looking at them like they weren't even a part of her.

A sudden wave of exhaustion caused her to collapse to her knees onto a crate.

"You look like you've just lost a lot of energy," Lea noted. A frown flickered onto his face. "Kind of like when a Nobody starts to lose energy..." He gave Maria a strange look.

"I can assure you, I'm completely whole," Maria stated, looking up at the Keyblade user. "Heartless exist nowhere in our world. Sure, there are dark _hearts_, but Heartless can't enter our _world_."

Lea looked bemused as the engines started up along the line of cars. "A Heartless world _and_ a girl who can use fire? Kid, your story keeps getting more messed up."

"Problem is, I don't know how to control this fire that I've got in me." Maria looked down at her hands again, eyes widening in alarm when flames flickered across her palms for a moment before disappearing again. Her eyes locking again with Lea's, Maria stated, "You know how to use this stuff. Think you could...teach me?"

Lea blinked, looking Maria over for a moment before moving his gaze to the back of Mole's drill. He looked like he was either lost in thought...or a little disconcerted with the whole idea of teaching someone how to use firepower.

Maria felt like a cold breeze was going through the cavern. She shifted into a more comfortable sitting position, crossing her arms in order to keep her hands warm. She found it ironic, considering that they had been spitting fire moments ago.

"You do realize you're asking me to do something I've never done before," Lea finally stated, looking over at Maria. "Showing people how to fight? Sure, I did that with..." He trailed off and shook his head. "But other fire users? I had to learn on my own. There's no way that this is going to be easy."

"If I'm going to be able to know how to control this, I'm up to it," Maria replied in a serious tone. "Next time we stop for camp, let's see if this works."

**Time Break**

"I don't think this is working, Lea!" Maria dropped the boulder, an annoyed look on her face as she panted heavily. Picking up her jacket, which she had taken off during the course of the exercise, the girl wiped the sweat off with one of the sleeves.

"You don't know if it's working or not until I see how it turns out," Lea replied, smirking. He slid off the rock he had been sitting on, walking over towards his student. "Let's see if you can summon that fire now."

"_How_?" Maria demanded. "It's not like I can just flip a switch and there it is!"

"Focus on your anger," Lea replied. "That's how I first found out." He moved his gaze up to a section of the ceiling. "Unless you want to go back to moving boulders around for no apparent reason."

Maria let out a low growl as she glared at Lea. Flames licked up her arms, but the girl didn't notice.

Lea blinked. "Really? That's all you've got? Man, it must be hard to get you mad."

Maria frowned. "Get me mad? Is _that_ what you were trying to do with all this?" She motioned to the boulders she had moved around, a surprised look on her face.

Lea gave a nod. "That's how I learned about mine." He adopted a more comfortable pose on his boulder. "See, before I...met up with everybody else, I was working with a different gang."

Maria frowned slightly. "Are you...referring to the Nobodies?"

Lea gained a guarded expression. "Yeah. Them. One of them tried to boss me around, but I wasn't going to take it from them - especially considering that we were friends. I blew up in his face and burned a lot of his hair off." A smirk crept onto his face. "Course, I got punished for it, but it was worth it."

Maria's eyes widened, and a grin spread across her face. "Cool. Who was it?" She chuckled. "No, don't tell me. It was Saix, wasn't it?"

Instead of letting out a short laugh himself, Lea gained a somewhat depressed look and concentrated his gaze on a nearby boulder.

Maria saw the look on the Keyblade user's face and frowned, blinking in confusion. After a moment, a clip from a cutscene she had watched slipped into her mind, and her eyes widened.

"Ooh." Maria bit down on her lower lip. "Lea, I'm sorry. I...wasn't exactly thinking."

Lea glanced over at Maria, but said nothing.

"Look, I know I appeared a bit late to help keep Siax - Isa - from Xehanort -"

"Maria."

Maria stopped her rant and looked over at Lea in confusion.

"It's okay, all right?" Lea looked over at her with an irritated expression. "There probably wouldn't have been anything that you could have done."

"Don't say that!" Maria stomped a foot on the ground out of frustration, a determined expression appearing on her face. "There's always something that can be done, whether it saves someone's life or not! I could've helped find a way to remove Xehanort's from him! I could've -" Maria let out a roar of anger. "Don't lose hope just because your best friend's being mind-controlled by that _idiot_!"

With that exclamation, Maria felt like her temperature had just spiked, and with another yell, her entire body burst into flames, doing a better job of lighting up the area than the torches Lea had made for the training ground. The flames quickly died, however, leaving Maria panting from exertion.

Lea, who had been watching the spectacle with surprise, slipped off his boulder and walked over. Ruffling Maria's hair, he murmured, "I never lost hope." The redhead then continued to the campsite without another word.

Maria turned around, watching as Lea walked away. She felt exhausted, but also like she had accomplished something. Looking down at her hands, she started to concentrate, trying to will the fire she had in her to surface. Watching the flames dance, a smirk snuck onto her face, then morphed into a full-blown smile.

Releasing her hold on the fire, Maria started for the campsite herself. She felt _very_ accomplished.


	6. Treasure map

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter with Liz front and center! I noticed that, according to the traffic cams of this website, that absolutely nobody read her last chapter. I suggest you do before getting into this chapter, otherwise it might not make much sense.**

**And...I forgot about disclaimers the last time I wrote this up, so here it is: I do not own the characters of Kingdom Hearts, Atlantis, or Treasure Planet. If I did, KHIII would probably be out by now and Atlantis might be more well-known than it is right now.**

**There. Now, the chapter!**

**Chapter 6 - Treasure map**

Liz relaxed quietly in a red armchair next to the fireplace in the living room of Dr. Delbert Doppler's home as everyone waited for the dog's return. Sora and Kairi were sitting on a green couch with Jim sitting between them, looking at the strange sphere the lizard had given him. All the travelers had been relatively dried and warmed on the way to the dog's mansion, and now at least two of them were waiting for something to happen that could jumpstart the part of the journey where treasure and ships were involved.

Sora was definitely the most jittery about this. He kept looking over Jim's shoulder in order to see what he was doing to the brass sphere. Whenever Jim would look up to glare at Sora, though, the Keyblade user would quickly scoot away and start looking at the ceiling.

Mrs. Hawkins was the only one not sitting. Instead, she paced nervously, waiting for Dr. Doppler to return from a talk with the police.

Doppler suddenly ran into the room, taking off his coat as he did.

"I just spoke with the constabulary," he explained. "Those blasted pirates have vanished without a trace." He took Mrs. Hawkins' hands in his. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I'm afraid the old BenBow Inn has burned to the ground."

Mrs. Hawkins sighed and slipped her hands out of Dr. Doppler's grasp.

The dog coughed. "Well, there's certainly a lot of trouble over that odd little sphere. Those markings baffle me; they're unlike anything I've ever seen."

Liz heard the sound of gears turning, causing her to look up and over in the direction of the noise. A smirk appeared on her face when Sora, Kairi, and Jim looked at the sphere in surprise as it started to spin, glowing a bright green along the carved lines.

"Even with my vast experience and superior intellect, it would take me years to unlock its- " Dr. Doppler stopped with an exclamation of surprise as a green holographic grid suddenly expanded from the sphere, causing the rest of the lights in the room to dim.

Jim got up and walked into the center of the room, still holding the sphere, which had now gone dark. Sora, Liz, and Kairi also got up from their seats; they looked around in amazement as holographic, green figures began to appear - stars and planets, forming constellations that would normally be seen through a telescope.

"Looks like Jim solved it in a few seconds," Liz noted with awe in her voice. She spun around, trying to get a good, long look at the hologram that now encompassed them.

"This is so cool!" Sora exclaimed, grinning.

"Ooh!" Dr. Doppler pointed at a little planet that was practically in front of his nose. "This is us, the planet Montressor." The dog let out a gasp when he caught sight of a collection of stars; he moved over to them, exclaiming, "That's the Magellanic Cloud!" Then he took note of a spiral of stars and pointed at it, continuing, "And that's the Coral Galaxy!" He touched the spiral, causing the grid to start moving past him. Dr. Doppler continued to name different sections of space, saying, "That's the Cygnus Cross, and there's the Kerian Abyss."

The hologram's movement started to slow, then a large sphere took up the space in the center of the room as the rest of the hologram disappeared. It took Liz a moment to realize that the design carved onto the sphere Jim was holding was the exact same design as was on the holographic planet. The only difference between the two was that the planet had two rings made of space rock and dust crossing at perpendicular angles.

Doppler looked at the planet, eyes wide. "What's this?" He squinted, then out a gasp. "Why, it's -"

"Treasure Planet," Jim finished.

Sora's eyes widened upon hearing this. "Treasure Planet?"

Doppler looked at Jim. "No!"

"That's Treasure Planet!" Jim repeated, excited. A grin started to spread across his face as he looked at the planet.

"Flint's treasure trove?" Doppler asked. "The loot of a thousand worlds?"

"Whoa!" Kairi exclaimed.

"That's a lot of treasure," Sora agreed. He looked from Kairi to the holographic planet.

"You know what this means?" Doppler asked, looking at Jim with an eager expression.

"It means all that treasure's a boat ride away," Jim replied, nodding.

Sora looked over at Liz, grinning. "This is so cool!"

Liz nodded in agreement, a grin on her own face.

"Whoever brings it back would hold the eternal place atop the pantheon of explorers!" Doppler's eyes were shining in delight. "He'd be able to experience -"

The map suddenly vanished, disappearing back into the sphere with just a touch from Jim's fingers. The dimmed lights came back to their full strength.

While Doppler looked around in confusion, Jim dashed over to his mother. "Mom, this is it, this is the answer to all our problems!"

Mrs. Hawkins gained a worried expression. "Jim there is no way -"

"Don't you remember all those stories?" Jim insisted.

"But that's all they were - stories!" Mrs. Hawkins retorted.

"With that treasure...we could rebuild the BenBow Inn a hundred times over!"

"I'd kind of like to see that much treasure," Sora said with excitement to Liz and Kairi. "And go on the ship that would take us there."

Mrs. Hawkins, who hadn't heard Sora's statement, looked over at Doppler. "Delbert, would you please explain how ridiculous this is?"

The dog turned to look at Jim. "Now, it's totally preposterous...traversing the entire galaxy alone."

Mrs. Hawkins sighed. "At last, we have some sense."

"And that's why I'm going with you!"

"Delbert!"

Liz nearly burst into laughter at this sudden exclamation. Sora and Kairi hid their grins behind their hands, the two shaking with their own laughter.

"I'll use my life savings to finance an expedition," the dog continued, ignoring Mrs. Hawkins' shocked look. "I'll commission a ship, hire a captain and crew..."

"You're not serious!" Mrs. Hawkins exclaimed.

"All my life I've been waiting for an opportunity like this," Doppler said with a faraway look in his eyes, "and here it is screaming 'Go Delbert! Go Delbert!'"

"You're both grounded!" Mrs. Hawkins shouted, desperate.

Jim let out a sigh and walked over to his mom. "Mom, look. I know that I keep messing everything up, and I know that I let you down. But this is my chance to make everything up to you. I'm gonna set things right."

Delbert walked over. "Sarah, if I may? There are worse remedies than a few character-building months in space."

Mrs. Hawkins looked at him. "Are you saying this because it's the right thing, or do you really want to go?"

"I really, really, _really_ want to go," Doppler admitted, looking a little embarrassed.

"It can be the right thing, too," Liz spoke up. She walked over to the group of three. "If you don't mind, Dr. Doppler, would it be all right if by friends and I came along?"

The dog looked at her in surprise. "Why?"

"A treasure hunt on this level is a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Sora spoke up. "We'd kind of like to come along and see how this turns out."

Liz smirked, thinking back to what she knew of Sora's adventures on ships and with pirates.

Mrs. Hawkins frowned. "You will have to discuss it with your parents first."

"What they don't know won't hurt them," Liz replied carelessly. "Besides, they already gave us permission to take a little cross-planet trip. Why not make it a trip across the galaxy?"

Doppler was now frowning. "I don't know..."

"We've seen the map, too," Sora pointed out. "We could accidentally let it slip that Treasure Planet does exist..."

Doppler took the hint, but not in the way Sora had intended him to. "Then you'll stay here in my home until we return."

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, as they had when Jim had activated the map. Sora and Kairi summoned their Keyblades as spots of black appeared in the floor. Liz back up from the spots and started to glare at her right hand venomously.

"Heartless!" Kairi exclaimed. She started to wave around the flowery Keyblade she wielded, whacking back the little black monsters as they started to materialize.

Doppler let out a girlish squeal and hid behind the couch, where Mrs. Hawkins quickly joined him.

Jim, however, wasn't exactly able to flee, because he was quickly surrounded by a small crowd of Heartless.

"Jim!" Liz exclaimed in alarm. She glared down at her hand, and this time her sword appeared readily. Dashing forward, she slashed into some of the Heartless, then moved back quickly before one of them could try to attack her.

Sora and Kairi, however, were having an easier time of it. They slashed into the Heartless crowd and made their way to Jim, where they started to circle, keeping the Heartless back from the boy.

"What did you call these things?" Jim asked over the noise of the dark monsters squelching against the blades. "Heartless?"

Sora nodded, not bothering to look back at Jim. "They're creatures that steal people's hearts and coat them in darkness," he explained. "If they're here, that means someone with a lot of dark power must be in this world. I've run into guys like that before.

"They were probably sent by that cyborg guy who was after the map, back at the Inn," Liz realized.

"Is there any way to defeat them?" Doppler asked as he peered over the couch.

"Sure," Sora replied. He swung his Keyblade, taking out more of the Heartless. Kairi sent a blast of what looked like ice magic from her blade at another section, causing the Heartless to dissolve as the ice took hold. Within minutes, the Heartless ceased to exist.

Doppler got up from where he had been kneeling behind the couch, then helped Mrs. Hawkins up. He looked over at Liz, Sora, and Kairi, who still had their blades out.

After nervously clearing his throat, he said, "I guess it would be all right if you three came along. We are going to have need of those skills of yours in case those Heartless come around again."

"YES!" Liz and Sora exclaimed.

Mrs. Hawkins looked worried. "Jim, Delbert, I can't let you go if these creatures are roaming about! They could -"

"Don't worry, Mom," Jim said. "You won't. We have these three with us."

"Our names are Liz, Sora, and Kairi," Liz reminded him. Her, Sora's, and Kairi's blades vanished as she continued, "We'll make sure nothing happens to him, Mrs. Hawkins."

Mrs. Hawkins looked at Liz, and seeing the determined look, nodded. "All right. Just be careful, okay?"

Liz, Sora, and Kairi nodded.

Doppler grinned. "Let's be off! To the spaceport!" He started for the door in a bold march.

"Wouldn't it be better if we waited for morning, Delbert?" Mrs. Hawkins spoke up.

The dog stopped short in his tracks, then turned around, chuckling nervously and rubbing the back of his head. "I guess so. My apologies - I wasn't exactly thinking."

Liz let out a yawn. "Yeah...happens to me, too." She looked around the extravagant room. "So, where are we going to sleep?"

"Ah!" Doppler clapped his hands together. "That can be easily arranged. Just follow me - there are plenty of guest bedrooms upstairs." He started out of the room, the rest of the group following.

**Time Break**

Liz kicked off her shoes as she sat on the bed, looking around the guest bedroom Dr. Doppler had provided for her. Unlike the rest of the house, the room was surprisingly simple, for which Liz was actually grateful. Except for the unexpected clutter of a couple books, the room was pretty much unused.

Liz wondered if Dr. Doppler ever got lonely in his house, away from everyone else. This thought, somehow, then led to thoughts of Maria - who Liz had no idea as to where she was or what she was doing.

"Well, sis," Liz spoke aloud, "wherever you are, I hope you're not in danger or anything. And that Riku's found you."

That said, she took her glasses off and placed them on a nearby nightstand, then slipped under the covers and into a fitful sleep.

**Well, sounds like Liz is going to be getting into events of a familiar movie herself. Next chapter's going up in the next two weeks - with Maria's side of the story omce again!**


	7. Visions?

**Hello! I decided to post this chapter a week earlier than I was planning because 1: Christmas Break! and 2: I'm almost done with fully revising everything, unlike with the other story I've been putting up! (Wildfire, if you guys haven't figured it out already)**

**So, here we are, back with Maria's side of the story!**

**Chapter 7 - Visions?**

Maria looked over at one wall of the tunnel, catching sight of strange carvings in the flickering light. She leaned forward, gripping the edge of the back of the truck with her left hand so that she could get a better look.

"Hey, no time for distractions," Lea warned, pulling Maria back by her jacket.

"That looked like it might have been something important," Maria complained, pointing back at the symbols as they appeared in the headlights of the truck behind them. Absently, she pushed her glasses up her nose with her other hand and wished that she could have something to clean off the dust that had gotten on it over the course of the trip.

Lea snorted. "It could've said 'abandon all hope' or something like that for all you know." He held up a hand, and a fireball appeared, hovering above his palm. "Now, try this again, all right? You need a basic attack when we run into those Dream Eaters again."

Maria nodded, looking at the spurt of flame she was holding in her right hand. Her look turned into a glare as she envisioned the flame turning into a sphere of flickering flames.

At first, nothing happened. But then the small flame suddenly exploded into smaller spheres of light, which scattered in all directions, hitting into the back of the cab and the walls on either side.

Maria let out an annoyed groan. "I'm never going to get a Fire Sphere at this rate."

"You'll get it. It's just that you don't have the pressure of learning while going after Heartless." Lea smirked. "Besides, if that doesn't work, that can always work as an attack if you can't use anything else."

"Yeah, but wouldn't it hurt the people I've sided with as well as the Dream Eaters?"

Lea frowned slightly, then shook his head. "Na. That's not going to happen."

"How do you even know? It's not like there's some sort of spell that keeps it from happening, is there?" Maria frowned, then when she saw the look on Lea's face, she blinked in surprise. "There is a spell."

"Yeah," the redhead replied with a nod. "It's automatic, though."

"So I don't have to cast it?"

"Nah. The only casting you're going to be doing is the fire stuff. Now let's try this again."

Maria let out a sigh and started to form another spurt of flame when the caravan came to a stop. Quickly snuffing out her flame, Maria looked around in order to try and see why the trucks had stopped.

Up ahead, the path split in two as the tunnel expanded into a cavern, with tunnels leading out in upward directions. Maria caught sight of Milo climbing out of the little white car that Milo's drill had been towing - he had been officially told that he could not drive in front of he caravan early on.

As the spindly scholar made his way towards the crossroads ahead and paged through his book, Maria felt her head start throbbing. Closing her eyes, she caught sight of something slipping through her mind: _a strange, green, bug-like monster coming out of a tunnel and snarling at Mole's drill, causing it to screech to a stop._

Crawling over the crates in the back of the truck, Maria reached the cab and rapped on the back window.

Audrey threw the window open and glared back at Maria. "What do you want?"  
"When Mole's drill starts to go forward, if he takes the tunnel on the left, don't follow him," Maria stated. This brought a look of confusion and surprise from Lea.

Audrey frowned. "And why not?"

"If Milo points in that direction, you'll see." Maria leaned back and sat down on a crate, moving her attention to the fork in the tunnel up ahead.

Audrey gave Maria a weird look, then turned back to face the truck in front of her, muttering something in Spanish under her breath.

Lea grabbed Maria's arm from behind her. "I thought you said you didn't know what was going to happen in the future."

Maria looked back at him. "I've started to get these visions, okay? Right before-"

The girl was cut off with a loud noise that caused the pair to look over at the split ahead of them.

Mole's drill and the other trucks that had gone ahead had been forced to stop short when a giant, bug-like monster had come out and complained loudly about an intruder approaching its territory.

Milo jumped upon seeing the bug-monster, then looked at his book for a moment before cautiously flipping the book and pointing nervously in the other direction.

In the truck cab, Audrey let out a loud exclamation and turned around sharply in order to glare at Maria. When the girl gave a helpless shrug, the mechanic growled and turned around again, once again muttering in Spanish.

"You were saying?" Lea asked, looking over at Maria with a curious expression.

Maria let out a sigh. "Right before the event happens, I've gotten a glimpse. I saw the Leviathan right before it took out the sub, for instance."

Lea frowned. "I haven't heard about anything like that happening before."

Maria shrugged again. "I won't be able to help you figure out how. I'm just as clueless about this ability as you are. I never even knew that I could do this kind of thing until I got here!"

"Yeah, I gathered that. But the question is, how much can you do?" Lea poked Maria in the chest. "You can't just throw fire and see the future. There's got to be something else that's going on with you."

"Well, yeah, but what? It's not like I can go through some sort of test right in the middle of this expedition." Maria gave Lea a slightly suspicious look. "Unless there is a test."

"Not that I'm aware of. I'm still new to this whole Keyblade wielding thing."

Up ahead, Mole's drill had finally - and successfully - backed up from the insect's tunnel. The drill turned and started forward again, with Milo scrambling into his little white car before it could get too far. Gradually, the rest of the caravan started to follow.

"So, I've kind of been meaning to ask," Lea spoke up as Audrey started the truck's movement. "What's your world like?"

Maria blinked. "My world?" She became a little embarrassed. "Well, there's not really much to tell."

"Tell it anyway," Lea replied. He shifted a little, trying to make himself a little more comfortable among the crates.

"Well, it's a lot like this world, if you were able to see anything that was up there." Maria pointed up at the tunnel's ceiling, hinting at what was far above them. "One difference, though, is that the year's 2012, not sometime in the 1940s. **[a/n: I'm only saying that this is a year behind because of events that take place later] **The technology we have at our fingertips is a whole lot better than what they've got now, and we can do things this world can't." Maria let out a sigh, her head and shoulders sagging. "But we've got our problems, too - wars in other countries and economic difficulties being the biggest ones. It's gotten to be pretty bad for a lot of people."

"Can you do anything about it?"

Maria looked over at Lea and shook her head. "Not unless I turn eighteen two years earlier than I'm supposed to. And that's definitely not going to happen unless I get stuck in a time warp or something." A sad smile crept across the girl's face before she moved her gaze to the back of the truck's cab. Maria tucked her knees up to her chin.

Lea gave Maria a curious look. "Sounds like your not exactly too fond of your world."

"Oh, don't get me wrong - it's a nice world, to be sure, but it just has problems in it like everybody else's." Maria looked back at Lea with a slight smirk. "Thing is, though, that a lot of people really like to escape reality in our world, so they make things that let us pretend we're on another world. I guess they didn't realize that the worlds they thought they had made up were actually real ones." She let out a slight chuckle, but then a frown appeared on her face. "See, that's one thing I don't understand about this whole thing: how in the world - no, universe - did the worlds that I'm aware of turn out to be real? Cartoons and stuff was never thought to actually exist anywhere outside the TV and a person's imagination."

Lea scratched his head, making his already messy hair even more so. "Well, Yen Sid knew about other worlds. It could have something to do with that. Maybe on a much larger scale, though..."

Maria shrugged. "I'll figure it out eventually."

**Time Break**

Maria sat quietly at the campfire with the other members of the group as a short, old man with what sounded like a Southern accent went around from group of people to group of people, handing out glops of some sort of chunky stew.

Maria didn't like the smell of it. There were some things that she could handle, but Cookie's cooking was probably beyond that limit.

"So, kid," Vinny stated, looking over at Maria from across the campfire. "I heard that you've got a few tricks up your sleeve like tall, dark, and snarky over there." He motioned with his fork over in the direction of Lea, who was sitting with another group of the crew, laughing and joking with them.

Maria became a little hesitant at the mentioning of some sort of connection between her and Lea. "Uh...maybe? Why?"

"You don't seem ta be as eager as he is to show off." Vinny motioned to Lea again, who was making lazy circles while a stream of fire - which looked a lot like a dragon - flew above the camp fire he was sitting at before it dissipated with a flash and the sound of what might have been wood cracking.

"I'm still pretty new to what I can do," Maria admitted, looking embarrassed and nervous.

"Kid, this whole thing is new to all of us," Audrey spoke up from where she sat next to Vinny. "Sure, we've been to Iceland to look for some book, but Atlantis?" She shook her head. "That old man's crazier than I thought."

"Oh, I wouldn't know about that," Maria responded with a slightly mysterious smile as she thought back to Milo's first encounter with Mr. Whitmore. "I think he's actually pretty cool."

"How would you know?" Audrey asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Maria froze, her eyes widening upon realizing what she had just let slip. "Uh...I heard a lot about him from Lea?"

Vinny and Audrey gave each other varying degrees of suspicious looks.

"There's something about you and Lea that doesn't fit with everything else," Audrey remarked.

"There's more than meets the eye to the both of you," Vinny added, waving his fork around.

For some reason, those words sent chills up and down Maria's spine, but the feeling was gone in an instant.

"I'm getting the feeling that a lot of people would say that about anybody," Maria stated carefully. "Even if they can't do what Lea and I can."

Audrey snorted. "Yeah, right."

Maria shrugged. "Big things come in small packages. Sometimes, people will surprise you." With that, she got to her feet, leaving the untouched tray of Cookie's goop behind as she started to make her way towards the row of tents.

"Hey!"

Maria turned as Lea ran over, and she gave him a curious look.

"I saw that you didn't like that stuff," Lea said, jabbing his thumb back in the direction of the campfire Maria had been sitting at. A certain small, round figure had found Maria's tray and was starting to attack it vigorously.

Maria gave a dry smile. "I didn't even dare to try it. That stuff doesn't exactly look appetizing."

"Yeah, I kinda figured." Lea produced a small bottle from out of nowhere and gave it to Maria. "Here. This might taste a little better than that other stuff."

Maria frowned, then took the bottle and looked its glowing blue contents over with a curious expression. "What is it?"

"Something that Sora managed to mix up some time ago," Lea explained. "He said something about not being able to eat all the time and that this stuff works pretty well as a replacement or something. Lasts about a week."

Maria's eyebrows arched in surprise as she looked down at the little bottle. The glowing blue liquid inside did send shivers down her spine, but they weren't enough to cause her to doubt Lea's words.

"Well, may as well give it a try," Maria noted. She removed the cork from the top of the bottle and promptly swallowed its contents.

The contents of the bottle felt cold and hot at the exact same time as the liquid slid down her throat with the viscosity of some sort of fruit juice. Maria's eyes widened when she realized the stuff tasted a lot like blue Gatorade for some reason.

When Maria had finished swallowing the potion, she looked down at the empty bottle for a moment before handing it back to Lea, saying, "Wow. Didn't expect it to taste like something from my world."

Lea looked down at the bottle in his hand in surprise. "Really?" He looked back at Maria with a curious expression. "What did it taste like?"

"An energy drink that tasted a lot like some sort of berry."

With a shrug, Maria turned around and started for the tents, leaving Lea standing alonew blinking in confusion.

**Space Break**

A figure stumbled out of a portal, which closed shut behind him as he looked around at his new surroundings. Once the figure had finished looking around the area, he started forward with determined steps, still looking around with a critical eye.

"All right, Maria," the figure muttered. "Where are you?"

**And that's it! See you guys later with a new chapter!**


	8. Legacy Cyborgs

**Hey-o! Back with another chapter in Liz's perspective!**

**Chapter 8 - Legacy cyborgs**

Liz looked around with something akin to amazement at the bustling crowds as she, Sora, and Kairi, followed Jim a through the spaceport that was located near Dr. Doppler's fine home. The two Keyblade wielders - as well as Lisa herself - were amazed by all the activity that was going on as aliens of all shapes and sizes yelled out orders to large numbers of more aliens as they ran from one ends of docks to ends of docks, attempting to get ships that were floating above them in perfect condition.

Sora, in particular, seemed to be enjoying himself just by looking at the ships themselves.

"Kids! Wait for me!"

Liz turned upon hearing the familiar voice of a certain humanoid dog, and she nearly burst out laughing upon seeing what he was wearing.

"Liz, there's no need to laugh," Doppler stated in a rebuking manner, wagging a gloved finger in her direction. The rest of the bronze-colored armor he was now wearing clanged all the way up his arm in response to this motion, but Doppler didn't respond to it.

Sora looked at Doppler in surprise. "Where did you pick up the suit of armor, Dr. Doppler?"

"Suit of armor?" Doppler looked down at himself, scanning the rather bulbous metal shell he was now wearing. Looking back at Sora, he replied in a huff, "It is not a suit of armor. It is, in fact, a space suit."

Jim snorted. "Yeah, sure. Like you needed that." He turned and started into the crowd again, returning his attention to the docks and the different types of ships that were located there.

"Jim! Wait!" Doppler ran after a boy, followed closely by Liz and the two Keyblade wielders. "You can't just walk off like that. Stay close, why don't you? We could get to know each other a little better?"

Jim looked back at them, but didn't say a word as he let them catch up, indifferent to Doppler's attempt at conversation. Liz watched the dog with a small smirk on her face as he continued to stumble over his words.

"You know what they saw," the dog continued, "familiarity breeds -" he paused. "Well, contempt, but in our case -"

"Look, let's just find the ship, okay?" Jim finally asked, annoyed.

"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, nodding vigorously in agreement.

"Oh!" Doppler stopped his word-stumbling, then started to look around at the shops that were docked. "Um..." A gloved hand made its way up to his chin as Doppler frowned in thought. "Oh dear. It seems I've forgotten where I was told that the ship was docked." He started to look around, then caught sight of a pair of aliens with skin the color of rocks working with a ladder on the roof of some sort of shack.

"Oh! Excuse me!" Doppler ran over, his suit clanging loudly as he made his way over to the pair of aliens, any other words drowned out by the sound of metal hitting metal. Liz, Sora, Kairi, and Jim ended up running after him so that they could attempt to hear what he was saying and where they would end up going.

"Second berth on your right," the alien on a ladder stated as Liz and the others got within earshot.

"You can't miss it," the one holding the ladder added.

"Uh...thanks?" Sora said, blinking in confusion.

Jim simply rolled his eyes and started off in the direction the aliens had pointed out. Sora, Liz and Kairi made it a point to dash after him in order to keep from losing him.

Doppler sighed somewhere behind the children as he followed after them. "It's the suit, isn't it? I should have never listened to that pushy two-headed saleswoman. This one said it fit, that one said it was my color. I didn't know what to do, I get so flustered."

The dog suddenly let out a gasp as the group neared one of the docks. "Oh! Jim, this is our ship!" Doppler quickly stumbled forward past the group, then pointed at a white ship ahead of them, golden sails still rolled up tightly as the ship sat in the air. "The R.L.S. _Legacy_." Doppler sounded proud with himself.

"Whoa," Jim said as he looked at the ship, a slight smile coming over his face. Sora had an identical look.

Liz had to agree with the both of them. Seeing a ship up close like this was a marvel in and of itself. She joined the others in running over to the gangplank, leaving Dr. Doppler to stumble after them in his loud suit of armor.

As the kids walked up the gangplank and onto the ship, someone shouted, "Stow those casks forward! Heave together now!" The crew appeared to be extremely busy with all sorts of activity that might prepare the ship for casting off.

Sora looked around in amazement at all the action. "This is so cool!" he exclaimed, over excited.

Unfortunately, the Keyblade wielder wasn't watching where he was going, and he ran into a large, squishy object. Backing up, he realized he had run into a large slug creature with what looked like tubes sticking out of his back.

Sora quickly held up his hands in a defensive stance. "Sorry, I didn't mean to -"

He was interrupted by the slug, which released several noises which have been deemed "farts" by Liz's world. The mentioned girl did her best to restrain her giggles.

"Allow me to handle this," Doppler said, stepping in front of Sora and giving the boy a slight smile. Then, after turning to face the slug, Doppler unleashed his own version of the noises the slug had produced, pushing his cheeks to get better leverage we he produced raspberries and other impolite noises.

The slug looked surprised, but then it made a noise that sounded like a laugh and replied using the noises once again.

"I'm fluent in Flatula, Sora," Doppler explained. "Took two years of it in high school." He saluted the slug, unleashing a raspberry as he walked passed.

"Flatula, huh?" Jim muttered. "Cool."

The group continued across the deck, Doppler somewhat leading the way as he looked around for a moment, then started straight for a man carved out of rock, who was wearing a three-pointed hat and wearing some sort of officer-ish uniform colored in red and gold.

"Good morning, Captain," Doppler greeted as he walked up to the man. "Everything shipshape?"

"Shipshape it is, sir," the man replied with calm authority, "but I'm not the captain." He pointed upward, tilting his head back to look up himself. "The captain's aloft."

There was a loud _meow!_, and a slim cat in a blue uniform slid down a rope and landed beside the rock-man with grace.

"Mr. Arrow, I've checked this miserable ship from stem to stern," the cat said coldly, "and as usual it's...spot on." A slight smile appeared on her face, and she asked teasingly, "Can you get nothing wrong?"

"You flatter me, Captain," Mr. Arrow said, sounding embarrassed.

The front part of Doppler's helmet fell forward with a _clang_ as the captain turned to look at him.

"Dr. Doppler, I presume?" the cat inquired.

The helmet nodded with a loud, rattling noise.

"Hello, can you hear me in there?" the cat asked, knocking on Doppler's helmet.

"Yes, I can hear you!" Doppler snapped, pulling up the front of the helmet. "Now stop banging!" However, the cat had moved.

"If I may, Doctor," the captain said as she fussed with something, "It works so much better when it's right way up and plugged in." She ran around the back and pushed something, causing Doppler to let out a yelp in surprise.

"Lovely," the cat said cooly as she came back around to stand in front of Dr. Doppler. "There you go."

Doppler glared at the captain. "If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!" he growled, unplugging a black plug from behind him and shaking it at her threateningly.

"I'm Captain Amelia," the cat introduced, ignoring Dr. Doppler. "Late of a few run-ins with the Protean Armada. Nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars." She motioned to Mr. Arrow. "You've already met my first officer, Mr. Arrow. Sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave, and true."

Mr. Arrow looked embarrassed again. "Please, Captain."

"Oh, shut up, Arrow," Amelia replied with a teasing smirk. "You know I don't mean a word of it."

Doppler coughed into a metal glove, getting the two to look back at him. "I hate to interrupt this lovely banter, but may I introduce you to Jim Hawkins?"

Jim shook Amelia's hand, then Arrow's hand as Doppler continued, "Jim is the boy who found the treasure-"

Liz quickly slapped her hand over Doppler's mouth to prevent him from saying anything more as some of the crew stopped and looked in their direction. Arrow glared at them, and they reluctantly went back to work.

Amelia glared at Doppler. "I'd like a word with all of you in my stateroom," she growled darkly. Amelia then turned around sharply and walked off, followed closely by Arrow.

Sora shrugged, then followed after them. Kairi ran after him, followed by Jim. Liz, after taking her hand off Doppler's mouth, ran after them. Doppler followed her, clanging loudly all the way across the deck and up the stairs into the captains quarters.

After they got into the stateroom and Amelia closed the door behind them, she said, "Doctor, to muse and babble about a treasure map in front of this particular crew, demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic - and I mean that in a caring way." She sounded serious, angered, and still teasing and cheerful at the same time.

"Imbecilic, you say?" Doppler repeated, looking incredulous. This was soon replaced by a look that made Doppler look like he was about to boil over in anger. "Foolishness, I've -"

"May I see the map, please?" Amelia interrupted patiently, holding out a gloved hand.

Jim eyed her reluctantly, then took out the brass sphere from a jacket pocket and held it out. "Here."

Amelia took it, looking at the object like a cat on Earth would look at a toy. "Fascinating." She walked over to a cabinet and placed the object inside. "Children, in the future, you address me as 'Captain' or 'Ma'am.' Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!"/"Aye, Captain!" Liz and Sora exclaimed at once. **[Liz said ma'am, Sora said Captain]**

"Yes, ma'am," Kairi murmured quietly.

Jim didn't say anything, and Amelia was quick to notice.

"I said, 'is that clear'?" Amelia repeated in a more serious tone.

"...Yes, ma'am," Jim muttered under his breath.

Amelia paused, considering Jim's response. "That'll do." She closed the cabinet and locked it with a key that she produced, then slid into a glove. "Gentlemen - and ladies - this must be kept under lock and key when it is not in use." She walked over to Doppler and gave him a slightly annoyed look. "And, Doctor, with the greatest respect, zip your howling screamer." She somehow managed to get up in his face when she said the last phrase of her sentence.

Doppler looked a little nervous while Liz tried to stifle a laugh. "Captain, I assure you, I -"

"Let me make this as monosyllabic as possible," Amelia continued calmly. "I don't care much for this crew you hired. They're..." She looked over at Arrow. "How did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee."

" 'A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots,' ma'am," came the instant, curt reply, causing Liz to smirk out of amusement, a snort of laughter escaping. She managed to cut any real laughter short; however, she still had a giggle fit.

"There you go," Amelia said calmly with a wave of her hand. "Poetry."

Doppler was becoming very annoyed with the captain's actions. "Now, see here -"

"Doctor, I'd love to chat - tea, cakes, the whole shebang - but I have a ship to launch, and..." Amelia looked over the armor Doppler was wearing. "...you've got your outfit to buff up." Amelia made her way to the door. "Mr. Arrow, please escort the five neophytes down to the galley straightaway. Young Hawkins and the others will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver."

"What? The cook?" Jim demanded, indignant and angered.

As they left the stateroom, both Jim and Doppler were fuming.

"That woman! That...that feline!" Doppler exclaimed in anger. "Who does she think is working for whom?"

"It's my map, and she's got me busting tables?" Jim moaned.

"I will not have a cross word spoken about our captain!" Mr. Arrow barked back at the two, an annoyed look on his face.

"Besides, this is your first time on a ship like this, isn't it?" Sora asked. "You're going to have to start small."

"And that includes you," Liz added, pointing at the Keyblade wielder as she spoke in a hushed voice. "It doesn't matter that you've been on a boat in water. This is probably going to be completely different."

Arrow nodded his approval, having not heard Liz's statement, then led the group down into the galley.

Inside, a man had his back turned to them as he worked with a stove. Hearing the whistle Mr. Arrow let out as they approached, the man turned with a look of surprise on his face.

"Why, Mr. Arrow, sir!" the man exclaimed. He took note of the group behind the first officer, then continued speaking. "Bringin' in such fine and distinguished guests to grace my humble galley. Had I known, I would've tucked in me shirt!" He chuckled, wiping his hands off in his apron.

"A cyborg!" Liz whispered, taking note of the man's arm, mechanical eye, and leg with wide eyes. Jim and the others exchanged glances, having also seen the attachments.

"My I introduce Dr. Doppler, the financier of our voyage," Arrow said as he motioned to Doppler. "Doctor, this is Mr. Silver."

"Love the outfit, Doc," Silver remarked as he shook the dog's hand, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Thank you," Doppler replied, quickly thinking for a reply. "Love the eye," he added, taking note of the robotic eye Silver had. He motioned to Jim, hoping to get some attention off him. "This young lad is Jim Hawkins."

"Jimbo!" Silver greeted, putting out his robotic hand. Oddly enough, it had a couple knives at the end. This caused Jim to back up a step.

Noticing this, Silver exchanged the knives for a makeshift hand, but Jim still didn't take the gesture.

"Oh, don't be too put off by this hunk of hardware." Silver turned back to the stove and started cooking quickly, breaking three eggs at once, chopping vegetables, and stirring it all together in a large kettle with a blender attachment. "These gears have been tough getting used to," he explained as he worked, "but they do come in mighty handy from time to time." He poured out some of his concoction into five bowls, then handed them to his guests, saying, "Here, now, have a taste of me famous bonzabeast stew."

Liz took in a whiff of the aroma coming off the stew as Doppler lapped up some of it.

"Mm," Doppler said. "Delightfully tangy, yet robust."

Sora took a sip of the stew and nodded in agreement, encouraging Kairi to take a sip, as well.

"It's an old family recipe," Silver explained.

Doppler was about to sip up more of his stew just as an eyeball surfaced in the liquid. He let out a yelp of surprise, jerking his head back in alarm.

"Let me guess," Liz said dryly, "part of the old family?"

Silver grinned hugely, and he let out a chuckle. "Ah, I'm just kiddin', Doc. I'm nothing if I ain't a kidder." He looked at Jim. "Go on, Jimbo. Have a swig."

Jim was about to take a sip himself when the stew was suddenly sucked down into a giant red and white straw. When the stew was gone, the straw shifted form into a little pink blob, which settled at the bottom of the bowl. The little thing chuckled delightfully.

"Morph!" Silver exclaimed. "You jiggle-headed blob of mischief! So that's where you was hiding."

The little creature chittered and flew over to Silver's right shoulder, letting out another chattering noise when it had reached that point.

"What is that thing?" Sora asked, looking at the pink blob with confusion and awe.

The blob transformed into a small version of Sora, which then mimicked, "What is that thing?"

"He's a morph," Silver explained as Morph transformed back into a pink blob. "Rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus."

Morph let out an odd cooing noise as he nuzzled against Silver's cheek.

"He took a shine to me," Silver continued. "We've been together ever since." He looked at Morph. "Right?"

Morph nodded quickly.

"We're about to get underway," Arrow spoke up. "Would you like to observe the launch, Doctor?"

Doppler became excited. "Would I? Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?" When Arrow didn't answer, Doppler said quietly, "I'll follow you."

"Mr. Hawkins, Sora, Kairi, and Liz will stay here in your charge, Mr. Silver," Arrow continued, when the named group tried to follow him out.

Silver looked nervous. "Begging your pardon, sir, but -"

"Captain's orders! See to it that you keep your new cabin boys busy." With that, Arrow and Doppler left the galley, while Silver, Jim, and Sora protested about not being able to see the launch - or just being stuck in the galley.

"So, the Captain's put you all with me, eh?" Silver asked once he and the two boys had gotten over what Arrow had ordered.

Liz nodded, a helpless half-smile working its way onto her face. "Yup."

Silver shrugged and gave a slight chuckle. "Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue with the captain?"

Jim wandered over to a pair of barrels and pulled a strange, purple fruit out of one of them. "You know...these purps...they're kind of like the ones back home on Montressor." He looked at Silver. "Ever been there?"

"Eh... Can't say as I have, Jimbo," the cyborg replied with a shrug.

Jim tossed the fruit a little, doing a one-handed juggle. "Come to think of it, just before I left, I met this old guy who was kind of looking for a cyborg buddy of his."

Silver frowned. "Is that so?"

Jim nodded.

"What was that old salamander's name?"

Liz stiffened. They hadn't informed Silver of the creature's species...shoot, even she hadn't really known what to call him!

Jim, who hadn't really taken note of one of the words in the cook's question, stated, "Bones. Billy Bones."

Silver frowned and though it over, muttering the name a couple times. "Can't say I have," he remarked finally. "Must've been a different cyborg. There's a slew of cyborgs roamin' this port." He made a motion that was probably meant to encompass the entire port outside.

On deck above, there was a loud whistle, followed by Arrow shouting, "Prepare to cast off!"

Silver smiled. "Off with you kids, and go watch the launch. There'll be plenty of work a-waitin' fer afterwards."

"You mean it?" Sora asked, his eyes wide with eagerness.

" 'Course I mean it, boy! Now get going!"

The four kids in front of Silver grinned at each other, then ran out of the galley.

When Jim and the others gotten clear of the galley's entrance, Arrow reported to Amelia in a clear voice, "All clear, Captain!"

Amelia gave a determined smile to the rock-man, then a swift nod . "Well, my friend. Are we ready to raise this sinking tub?"

"My pleasure, Captain," Arrow replied. He then called out loudly to the crew, "All hands to stations!"

The deck instantly exploded in a flurry of activity, members of the crew dashing for different areas of the ship.

Liz craned her neck back as she watched some of the crew scramble up the masts. She probably wasn't going to be able to do that before the end of his voyage.

"Loose all solar sails!" Arrow called.

The crew responded instantly, pulling ropes and tying down the sails as the unfurled. The strange, orange-yellow material sparkled in the sunlight.

"Heave up the braces!"

The ship suddenly started to rise up beneath Liz's feet, and she got the feeling that they were leaving the spaceport. Especially considering that her own feet started to leave the deck, leaving Liz to mill around in the air as she tried to get some sort of sense of balance. She considered herself lucky that her feet still stayed underneath her.

"Mr. Zoff, engage artificial gravity," Amelia calmly told the slug Sora had run into earlier. She was standing in the air as though she had never left the ground: feet together, hands behind her back.

Zoff saluted, then pulled down a lever on a console near him, causing the crew to come back down and at least have their feet planted on some part of the ship.

Doppler, who wasn't used to this sort of thing, slammed down on his back beside Amelia, causing some of his suit's parts to go flying in all directions. Liz and Kairi almost landed the same way, but Sora, who was close to the both of them, somehow managed to help them stay upright.

"South by southwest, Mr. Turnbuckle," Amelia ordered a green slug-like creature at the helm. "Heading 4600."

"Aye, Captain," Turnbuckle replied as he started to turn the helm with his four tentacles. "4600."

"Full speed, Mr. Arrow, if you please," Amelia told Arrow.

"Take her away!" Arrow shouted.

Liz could have sworn that the boards beneath her feet started to vibrate when she heard the sound of something revving up below her. The ship's bow had already turned to face the sky.

"Brace yourself, Doctor," Amelia called to Doppler over the engines.

"Brace yourself," Doppler mimicked haughtily.

The engines suddenly burst to life, and the ship rocketed upwards. Liz let out a yelp of surprise as she stumbled back into a railing nearby; she made it a point to grab it in order to keep her footing. Doppler, however, wasn't so lucky: He had been blown back into a wall as the ship took off.

Liz, when she saw the doctor's predicament, couldn't help but laugh as the ship took off into the stars.

**Well, Liz has started off on her own expedition, now - she's catching up with Maria, so to speak (if you want to take about how far they are in the movies' plots). Next week, back to Maria's side, with tunnels, tunnels, and more tunnels! (sarcastic "yay")**


End file.
